Gwangju Uprising

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, a tragic event still very fresh in the minds of the Korean people. I think most Americans would find it surprising that a dictatorship existed so recently in South Korea. This is an interesting article that talks about the event as well as outlines some of the complaints a lot of Koreans still have about the U.S. government. Many cite the 80s as a period when it became clear that the U.S. wasn't actually as interested in promoting democracy as they claimed, that when it came to the dictatorship in South Korea and the human rights violations that were occuring there, the U.S. government was more interested in preserving their business ties than with actually supporting democracy.

The Marmot's Hole is also posting summaries of the events of each day of the Uprising, which went on for about 10 days. My host mother was a university student in Gwangju at the time and she told me the other day that she spent the time taking refuge in a relative's basement. Some photographs were set up in the rotary near my school yesterday and the day before, pretty shocking photographs of police against demonstrators, and slain students. There was one photograph of a few older men standing trial, I assume the few former presidents who were convicted of crimes against the Korean people but a few years later granted clemency. Someone had taken an exacto knife to one of the faces of the men. I assume it was a middle school or high school student, since they all seem to carry exacto knives in their pencil cases. It's another interesting manifestation of the anger so many young Koreans carry inside of them, about events that happened before they were born.

I think I might visit Gwangju this weekend. I don't have anything else planned, and I've been meaning to visit the May 18th memorial for awhile. This weekend seems like it would be an appropriate time. I suspect I'll be going to Gwangju Friday night anyway to see Episode 3, so maybe I'll stay the night there, and meet up with my friend who graduated from my school last semester. She's going to university in Gwangju now.