Gwangju Democratization Movement - Background

Background

President Park Chung-hee, after ruling for 18 years, was assassinated on October 26, 1979. This abrupt ending of an authoritarian regime left Korean politics in a state of instability. New President Choi Kyu-hah and his Cabinet had little control over the growing power of ROK Army General Chun Doo-hwan, who took control of the government through the Coup d'état of December Twelfth.

The nation's democratization movements, which had been suppressed during Park's tenure, were again awakening. With the beginning of a new semester in March 1980, professors and students expelled for pro-democracy activities returned to their universities, and student unions were formed. These unions led nationwide demonstrations for an array of reforms, including an end to martial law (declared after Park's assassination), democratization, minimum wage demands, and freedom of press. These activities culminated in the anti-martial law demonstration at Seoul Station on May 15, 1980 in which about 100,000 students and citizens participated.

In response, Chun Doo-hwan took several suppressive measures. On May 17, Chun Doo-hwan forced the Cabinet to expand martial law to the whole nation, which had previously not applied to Jeju-do. The expanded martial law closed universities, banned political activities and further curtailed the press. To enforce the martial law, troops were dispatched to various parts of the nation. On the same day, The Defense Security Command raided a national conference of student union leaders from 55 universities, who were gathered to discuss their next moves in the wake of the May 15 demonstration. Twenty-six politicians, including Jeollanam-do native Kim Dae-jung, were also arrested on charges of instigating demonstrations.

Ensuing strife focused in the Jeollanam-do area, particularly in the then-provincial capital, Gwangju, for a complex of political and geographical reasons. These factors were both deep and contemporary:

region is the granary of Korea. However, due to its abundant natural resources, the Jeolla area has historically been the target for exploitation by both domestic and foreign powers.

Such has nourished a culture of opposition attested, for example, in the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the Gwangju Students Movement, the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion, or the region's resistance to the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). More recently, under the Third Republic of South Korea and Fourth Republic of South Korea,

Park Chung Hee's dictatorship had showered economic and political favours on his native Gyeongsang region in the southeast, at the expense of the Jeolla region of the southwest. The latter became the real hotbed of political opposition to the dictatorship, which in turn led to more discrimination from the centre. Finally, in May 1980 the city of Gwangju in South Jeolla province exploded in a popular uprising against the new military strongman, General Chun Doo Hwan, who responded with a bloodbath that killed hundreds of Gwangju's citizens.