ED Discovery of remains in Gwangju

Authorities should speed DNA tests to ease families' torment

The remains of 40 unidentified bodies were found at a former prison site in the southwestern city of Gwangju last week. The discovery sparked suspicion that the remains may belong to victims of the military's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju in May 1980.

The remains were discovered Thursday when workers were moving a graveyard where deceased inmates without family or friends had been buried. Among the remains, two skulls showed signs of being pierced. The Ministry of Justice said it would cooperate with relevant organizations to search for links between the remains and the Gwangju massacre through DNA tests.

“It is hard to prejudge if the remains have something to do with the pro-democracy movement, but we must check the possibility,” Vice Justice Minister Kim Oh-soo said.

Civic groups related to the pro-democracy movement remain cautious, stating that they would be very cooperative in DNA tests. Given the profound suffering of the victims of the military's crackdown on civilians nearly 40 years ago, their caution is understandable.

The remains may belong to death-row inmates without family or friends who had been jailed there. But the possibility can hardly be ruled out that the remains may be related to those who went missing in 1980. More than anything else, 111 remains recorded in the prison's management register of the graveyard were identified, but there is no record of the 40 newly discovered remains.

If the remains are found to be victims of the Gwangju massacre, it could shed new light on alleged military atrocities and potentially determine the whereabouts of at least a portion of the hundreds of people reported missing in the wake of the 1980 pro-democracy demonstrations. The government should expedite DNA tests of the remains to give closure and ease the deep-rooted torment of the bereaved families.