Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. But Mr. Hinzpeter’s footage exposed those assertions as lies — not just to the world, but to South Koreans. We saw mothers cry over their dead sons and gunshots coming seemingly from nowhere, and yet the protesters continued to fight for democracy until it was granted to them. In the years that followed, when Mr. Hinzpeter was honored with awards by South Korean journalist associations and civic groups, he often spoke of Mr. Kim. They headed south. “Signs at the expressway entrance saying ‘closed’ were a warning to us. The Korean government heavily censored Korean media from releasing news stories regarding the Gwangju Uprising. He has long been celebrated for his part in exposing the atrocities of the former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan. After the troops started killing protesters, residents had begun to arm themselves. Sluiten. Published : Jul 1, 2020 - 18:30 Updated : Jul 16, 2020 - 17:09, Video footage from “Gwangju Video: The Missing” shows a rally calling for an investigation into the Gwangju Uprising massacre. They armed themselves with bats, knives, pipes, hammers, Molotov cocktails, and whatever else they could find. Jürgen Hinzpeter (6 July 1937 – 25 January 2016) was a German journalist best known for his coverage of South Korean topics. The military killed many people as it crushed a pro-democracy uprising in the city. Shin Nan-ja, 75, who worked for Mr. Hinzpeter after the uprising, said he asked her repeatedly to find him. Mike Lanchin spoke to Kim Jong an Show Witness History, Ep The Gwangju massacre - 27 May 2020. His book, was a useful primary source I used to understand the uprising day by day. He was sentenced to death in 1996 on charges of corruption, treason and mass murder in connection with his military coup in 1979 and the massacre in Gwangju, which claimed the lives of 165 people. Gwangju (Korean pronunciation: ) is the sixth largest city in South Korea.It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. But these did not hinder our driver Kim from continuing on the empty highway,” Mr. Hinzpeter wrote in 2006, when he was asked to recount his experience for the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club. In 1998 Kim Dae-Jung, who had once been arrested and sentenced to death for his role during the Kwangju Uprising, became the second democratically elected president; Roh Moo Hyun, who became president in 2003, also had a connection to the uprising. Soldiers leading students away after a raid in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980. And this week, it is his driver’s turn to be recognized. I discovered this topic after watching. I interviewed George Katsiaficas over Skype, the author of Asia’s Unknown Uprisings. It took the military only two hours to completely crush the uprising. When Park was assassinated on October 26, 1979, a power void resulted that was filled by Chun Doo-Hwan, a brigadier general who had taken control of the South Korean military through an internal coup. 18 광주 민주화 운동 ; Hanja : 五一八光州民主化運動 ; RR : Gwangju Minjuhwa Undong ), was a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju , South Korea, from May 18 to 27. After the country was governed for a brief period by a parliamentary system, a military coup led by Gen. Park Chung-Hee displaced the government in May 1961. During his almost 18 years in office, Rhee grew continuously more repressive toward his political opposition in particular and the country’s citizens in general. Mr. Hinzpeter, who died last year at 78, has long been celebrated in South Korea for his part in exposing Mr. Chun’s atrocities. (Indieplug), “Gwangju Video: The Missing” poster (Indieplug), COVID-19 cases see largest daily increase since August, Forgo year-end gathering plans: health authority, ‘N. Jahrestag des Aufstandes in Südkorea. This article asks how the story of radical political change is articulated in A Taxi Driver, South Korea’s most-viewed and highest-grossing film on the Uprising. Getting footage to the outside world would be even more challenging. Mr. Hinzpeter was one of the few foreign correspondents to document the carnage, and his footage was seen around the globe. Mourning victims in Gwangju in May 1980. His contributions to SAGE Publications’s. The military, under Chun’s leadership, declared martial law the following month. I wrote email communications to Matt VanVolkenburg, a researcher and commentator on the Gwangju Uprising who directed me toward many booklets, pamphlets, and journal articles. They faced 18,000 riot police and 3,000 paratroopers. The junta blamed “vicious rioters” and “communist agitators” for the casualties, saying the military had been there only to protect people. Hearing word of the unrest, Mr. Hinzpeter, who was based in Tokyo for the German broadcaster ARD, and his sound technician Henning Rumohr flew to Seoul. By the late 1980s public demand and scrutiny had led to the reinstitution of direct presidential elections under Chun’s chosen successor, Roh Tae-Woo, and in 1993 Kim Young-Sam became the first president democratically elected by the Korean people. (Mr. Hinzpeter made up a story that helped them get through later checkpoints, telling soldiers that his boss was stranded in Gwangju and he had to get him out.). Once back in Seoul, he hid it in a large can of cookies, which he wrapped in gold-colored foil and green ribbons so it would pass for a wedding gift. Francois Lochon/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images. In 1996 Chun and Roh Tae-Woo had been convicted of mutiny, treason, and corruption in connection with the 1979 coup and the Kwangju massacre, but Kim Dae-Jung upon taking office as president in 1997 pardoned both men. The same day, he flew back to Seoul. On a personal note, watching the footage with my mother was a powerful experience. Once in power, Chun persuaded the new president, Choi Kyu-Hah, to name him chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency in April 1980. The situation soon escalated with a series of nationwide protests against military rule that were led by labour activists, students, and opposition leaders, who began calling for democratic elections. Park became president the following year and remained in office for the next 18 years. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen founded in 1614 - top 100 university. According to official government figures, nearly 200 people—the great majority of them civilians—were killed in the rebellion, but Kwangju citizens and students insisted that the number was closer to 2,000. Video footage from “Gwangju Video: The Missing” shows a rally calling for an investigation into the Gwangju Uprising massacre. Gwangju Massacre. “Until now, I had never known there was a taxi driver in this great tale about Mr. Hinzpeter,” Kim Ju-sung, a high school student, said after a recent preview screening of the movie. A Kwangju museum devoted to the uprising and the designation of May 18 as a national day of commemoration likewise mark the significance of the Kwangju Uprising in the development of democracy in South Korea. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. https://www.britannica.com/event/Kwangju-Uprising, Korean Resource Center - May 18th Gwangju People's Uprising, The Heritage Foundation - South Korea's Kwangju Incident Revisited. The dictator finally agreed to a democratic overhaul, including free elections, in 1987. Nearly 200 people, including about 20 soldiers, were killed in Gwangju, by the official count, though civic groups and bereaved families have suggested that the toll was much higher. Mr. Hinzpeter wrapped his exposed film in its original packaging, to make soldiers at the checkpoints think it had not been used. With the approval of the United States, which had maintained operational control over combined U.S. and Korean forces since the end of the Korean War, Chun’s government sent elite paratroopers from the Special Forces to Kwangju to contain the unrest. The roots of the Kwangju Uprising may be traced to the authoritarianism of the Republic of Korea’s first president, the anticommunist Syngman Rhee. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office moved to the southern village of Namak in Muan County in 2005.. Gwang (광, Chinese letter: 光) means light and Ju (주, Chinese. Mai, in der Partnerschaft zwischen Kirchen in Deutschland und Korea Engagierte an den Aufstand gegen die Militärdiktatur vor 40 Jahren in Gwangju/Südkorea. On May 20 a newspaper called the Militants’ Bulletin was published to counter the “official” news being published by government-run or highly partisan media outlets such as the newspaper Chosun Ilbo, which had characterized the protesters as hoodlums with guns. Video footage from “Gwangju Video: The Missing” shows a rally calling for an investigation into the Gwangju Uprising massacre. As the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan slaughtered people in Gwangju who were calling for democracy, Mr. Kim, if that was his name, played a pivotal role in telling the world what was happening. In the bloody month of May 1980 in Gwangju, South Korea, one such invisible hero was a taxi driver whose name may or may not have been Kim Sa-bok.