The Kwangju Uprising A Miracle Of Asian Democracy As Seen By The Western And The Korean Press

The Kwangju Uprising that occurred in May 1980 is burned into the minds of South Koreans in much the same way that Tiananmen is burned into the minds of contemporary Chinese. As the world watched in horror following the assassination of President Park Chung Hee, student protesters were brutally suppressed by the military and police led by strongman Chun Doo Hwan. Kim Dae Jung, the current president of South Korea, was imprisoned and sentenced to death during this period. This book recreates those earth-shaking events through eyewitness reports of leading Western correspondents on the scene as well as Korean participants and observers. Photographs, detailed street maps, and dramatic woodblock prints further illuminate the day-to-day drama to keep this atrocity alive in the conscience of the world.

The essential account of the South Korean 1980 pro-democracy rebellion On May 18, 1980, student activists gathered in the South Korean city of Gwangju to protest the coup d’état and the martial law government of General Chun Doo-hwan. The security forces responded with unmitigated violence. Over the next ten days hundreds of students, activists, and citizens were arrested, tortured, and murdered. The events of the uprising shaped over a decade of resistance to the repressive South Korean regime and paved the way for the country’s democratization. This fresh translation by Slin Jung of a text compiled from eyewitness testimonies presents a gripping and comprehensive account of both the events of the uprising and the political situation that preceded and followed the violence of that period. Included is a preface by acclaimed Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong. Gwangju Uprising is a vital resource for those interested in East Asian contemporary history and the global struggle for democracy.

This book explores the implications of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising, which took place in May 1980 when paratroopers brutally broke up a group of protesters who demonstrated against General Chun Doohwan's acceptance of the Korean presidency. People who lived in the Gwangju and South Jeolla provinces fought the paratroopers, insisting that martial law be abolished. During the event now known as the Gwangju Uprising, 191 people perished and 852 were wounded. Here, Choi Jung-woon explores the ramifications of this pivotal day in Korea's modern history on the country's society, economy and politics. Rather than give a traditional historical narrative of the event, he gives an indepth analysis of the participants' mentalities and incentives, and the type of the brutality involved in the uprising. He also examines the stages the participants went through during the uprising, from the calm and togetherness they felt before the event, to the uprising's turmoil and then a return to peace after the event. The author analyzes various discourses related to the uprising, looking into the ideological underpinnings of those who commented on the uprising. labor movements and political relationships in Korea.

This new book offers a retrospective appraisal of the Gwangju Uprising by academics, activists and artists from Gwangju, Korea. It analyzes the events of the Gwangju uprising, and traces the birth of South Korean democracy in Gwangju’s stubborn refusal to accept life without freedom.

The Kwangju Uprising--"Korea's Tiananmen"--is one of the most important political events in late twentieth-century Korean history. What began as a peaceful demonstration against the imposition of military rule in the southwestern city of Kwangju in May 1980 turned into a bloody people's revolt. In the two decades since, memories of the Kwangju Uprising have lived on, assuming symbolic importance in the Korean democracy movement, underlying the rise in anti-American sentiment in South Korea, and shaping the nation's transition to a civil society. Nonetheless it remains a contested event, the subject still of controversy, confusion, international debate, and competing claims. As one of the few Western eyewitnesses to the Uprising, Linda Lewis is uniquely positioned to write about the event. In this innovative work on commemoration politics, social representation, and memory, Lewis draws on her fieldwork notes from May 1980, writings from the 1980s, and ethnographic research she conducted in the late 1990s on the memorialization of Kwangju and its relationship to changes in the national political culture. Throughout, the chronological organization of the text is crisscrossed with commentary that provocatively disrupts the narrative flow and engages the reader in the reflexive process of remembering Kwangju over two decades. Highly original in its method and approach, Laying Claim to the Memory of May situates this seminal event in a broad historical and scholarly context. The result is not only the definitive history of the Kwangju Uprising, but also a sweeping overview of Korean studies over the last few decades.

One of the largest political protests in contemporary Korean history, the May 1980 Kwangju Uprising still exerts a profound, often contested, influence in Korean society. Through a deft combination of personal reflections and academic analysis, Contentious Kwangju offers a comprehensive examination of the multiple, shifting meanings of this seminal event and explains how the memory of Kwangju has affected Korean life from politics to culture. In keeping with the book's title, the essays offer competing interpretations of the Kw.

Using social movements as a prism to illuminate the oft-hidden history of 20th-century Korea, this book provides detailed analysis of major uprisings that have patterned that country’s politics and society. From the 1894 Tonghak Uprising through the March 1, 1919, independence movement and anti-Japanese resistance, a direct line is traced to the popular opposition to U.S. division of Korea after World War Two. The overthrow of Syngman Rhee in 1960, resistance to Park Chung-hee, the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, as well as student, labor, and feminist movements are all recounted with attention to their economic and political contexts. South Korean opposition to neoliberalism is portrayed in detail, as is an analysis of neoliberalism’s rise and effects. With a central focus on the Gwangju Uprising (that ultimately proved decisive in South Korea’s democratization), the author uses Korean experiences as a baseboard to extrapolate into the possibilities of global social movements in the 21st century. Previous English-language sources have emphasized leaders—whether Korean, Japanese, or American. This book emphasizes grassroots crystallization of counter-elite dynamics and notes how the intelligence of ordinary people surpasses that of political and economic leaders holding the reins of power. It is the first volume in a two-part study that concludes by analyzing in rich detail uprisings in nine other places: the Philippines, Burma, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, and Indonesia. Richly illustrated, with tables, charts, graphs, index, and endnotes.

Asia Pacific Face-Off is the thirteenth in the Canada Among Nations series published by The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. In recognition of the government's designation of 1997 as Canada's Year of Asia Pacific, the volume focuses on aspects of Canada's relations with the countries in this region. During 1997 Canada will host the annual Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and a number of apec ministerial meetings. As many of our contributors suggest, Canada has not yet acquired much of a presence in the Asia Pacific region, and we have some distance to go before our status as an Asia Pacific nation is taken seriously by our APEC partners. The high profile of Team Canada missions should not be mistakenly interpreted as evidence of concerted Canadian policy with respect to Asia Pacific. In terms of educational or economic linkages with the countries of APEC, Canada could take lessons from Australia, a country whose policies our authors compare with Canada's.

Asia Pacific Face-Off is the thirteenth in the Canada Among Nations series published by The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. In recognition of the government's designation of 1997 as Canada's Year of Asia Pacific, the volume focuses on aspects of Canada's relations with the countries in this region. During 1997 Canada will host the annual Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and a number of apec ministerial meetings. As many of our contributors suggest, Canada has not yet acquired much of a presence in the Asia Pacific region, and we have some distance to go before our status as an Asia Pacific nation is taken seriously by our APEC partners. The high profile of Team Canada missions should not be mistakenly interpreted as evidence of concerted Canadian policy with respect to Asia Pacific. In terms of educational or economic linkages with the countries of APEC, Canada could take lessons from Australia, a country whose policies our authors compare with Canada's.