Moon vows probe of Gwangju Uprising

May 18 ceremony participants sing memorial song together

By Choi Ha-young

GWANGJU — President Moon Jae-in participated in a ceremony to commemorate the May 18 Democratic Uprising in this southwestern city Thursday and sang a symbolic song with all participants.

This is the first time in nine years that all the people attending have sung the memorial song for the pro-democracy uprising in 1980, which had been prohibited by the two previous conservative administrations.

“Imeul Wihan Haengjingok” (March for the Beloved) resonated over the May 18th National Cemetery, following President Moon’s order. After taking office on May 10, he said that the symbolic pro-democracy song should be sung by all participants at the commemorative event.

Two previous conservative leaders — Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak — were reluctant to support the annual event in the liberals’ traditional stronghold. Park kept silent when others’ sang the song in 2013, and refused to attend the ceremony afterward.

This year, Moon attended the event along with party leaders, lawmakers, governors and civic activists who led street rallies last winter to unseat the scandal-ridden ex-President Park.

Over 10,000 packed the cemetery to honor those who resisted ex-President Chun Doo-hwan who seized power in a coup. This was the largest-ever number, as entry to the cemetery without advance registration was allowed unlike previous years.

The liberal president’s appearance impressed the city’s residents remembering the trauma of the time. During a brutal suppression from May 18 to 27, around 200 people were killed and over 800 injured.

Later, the atrocities of the military dictatorship triggered many students and activists to dedicate themselves to the pro-democracy movement.

“Thanks to the sacrifice of Gwangju people, the democracy of Korea could persist and survive,” Moon, a former human rights lawyer, said. “I declare the newly launched administration is in line with the spirit of Gwangju.”

Following his emphasis on truth and justice, the participants responded with applause. For decades, the movement and the memorial song have been subjects of defamation by far-right politicians and commentators. Punishment rarely followed the groundless claims that the protesters were controlled by North Korea.

To counter such distortions, Moon clearly defined the meaning of the movement and the song. “The song means the spirit of democracy and the honor of the victims. Through today’s unity, I hope to put an end to unnecessary controversies,” he said.

For decades, bereaved families and people who were injured have called for an investigation into who ordered troops to open fire on citizens, but they still have a long way to go. In January, a National Forensic Service report newly revealed that the military even used helicopters to fire on civilians indiscriminately.

Former President Chun, who was in charge of the suppression according to a Supreme Court judgment, denied his involvement in the incident in his memoir published last month, describing himself as a “victim.”

In front of the victims and bereaved families, Moon vowed thorough fact-finding. “The new government will firmly reveal those who directed the shootings including the ones from helicopters. Thorough fact-finding is not a matter of ideological dispute.”

Since the liberal opposition People’s Party has pushed for a special law to look into the shooting from helicopters, the investigation is likely to gain momentum under the liberal administration.

Moon also renewed his pledge to stipulate the spirit of the movement in the Constitution, if constitutional revision talks take place during his term. “I will politely ask for the agreement of the National Assembly and public support to succeed to the spirit of the Constitution.”

Veteran singer Jeon In-kwon’s husky voice in the song made a grand finale of the event, leaving some participants in tears.

“I am so happy,” tearful Kim Ok-soon, 76, who vividly remembers the massacres at that time, said. “Looking back over the past nine years, I never imagined this would happen. Thank heavens,” she said.