Gwangju Uprising

In May 1980 citizens of Gwangju, South Korea, rose against martial law and the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan before troops crushed the uprising.

Overview

After the assassination of Park Chung-hee in 1979, General Chun Doo-hwan seized power and extended martial law. On 18 May 1980 students protesting in Gwangju were brutally attacked by paratroopers, and citizens took up arms and drove the troops out of the city. For several days Gwangju was run by citizens committees. On 27 May the army retook the city. Official figures put the dead at around two hundred, though many believe the toll was higher. The massacre became a central memory of the South Korean democracy movement, and Chun was later convicted in the 1990s for his role in the 1979 coup and the 1980 crackdown.