Cardinal Backed Gwangju Pro-Democracy Movement
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan always supported democracy in his country. However, it was revealed only after his death that he sent a large amount of money and support to the victims of the brutal military crackdown during the Gwangju Pro-Democracy Movement on May 18, 1980.
Archbishop Yoon Gong-hee, who once headed the Gwangju archbishopric, recalled yesterday that on May 23, 1980, he received a letter from the cardinal through a chaplain, without the knowledge of the military, which had blocked all roads and communications in and around the southwestern city.
``I am very concerned that so many people were either injured or dead. I know it is a very difficult time, but I hope everything will end peacefully,'' Kim wrote. Alongside the letter was 10 million won in cash.
``People criticizing the government were arrested on rebellion charges. The cardinal didn't write at length or specifically, but people in Gwangju were more than impressed to have received such a consoling message during such a turbulent time from the cardinal,'' Yoon said. The money was used to treat victims, Yoon said.
The late Cardinal had always showed compassion for Gwangju, and when Pope John Paul Ⅱvisited Korea in 1984, Kim allegedly advised him to visit Gwangju first. The pope indeed started his visit in the city, walking along Geumnam road and Provincial Office square, where the military suppressed and even killed citizens advocating democracy. He then moved to the Mudeung Stadium to hold his first mass.
Kim expressed his sympathy for Gwangju several times. ``It was the hardest moment of my life. The case wasn't properly promoted. I thought I did all I could but it didn't work. It left so many people hurt and wounded,'' he said in interviews later on.
The pro-democracy uprising took place around May 16 before turning into a bloody clash between pro-democracy fighters and paratroopers two days later. The Chun Doo-hwan military junta had ``succeeded'' in suppressing the uprising on May 27 the same year.
It was officially tallied that 240 people were killed, with 409 missing and thousands injured. The movement was acknowledged as a pro-democracy movement in 1997 and is commemorated by the central government.
Former president Chun, who rose to power in 1980 after the Gwangju massacre, visited Myeongdong Cathedral Wednesday to pay homage to the
late Cardinal.