[37th Anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising] Order to Fire, Shots Fired from Helicopters, and 76 Missing People: We Need to Put the Pieces of Truth Together

[경향신문]

On May 17, a day before the 37th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, the Taegeukgi and flowers are placed before a tombstone for the missing victims at the May 18th National Cemetery in Unjeong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju. The graves here were prepared for the citizens whose bodies were never found after they disappeared at the time of the May 18 uprising. Yi Jun-heon

On March 20, President Moon Jae-in, a presidential candidate at the time, stood in Democracy Square in front of the former Jeollanam-do Provincial Office in Dong-gu, Gwangju, the final stage of the May 18 Democratic Uprising. At the time, Moon said, "The new Republic of Korea will be one that inherits the Gwangju spirit in its Constitution." He also declared, "The details, such as who ordered the soldiers to open fire, are still concealed, but will be identified and any attempt to distort or disparage the truth will be strictly prohibited."

With the launch of the new government, Gwangju has high hopes for the truth surrounding the May 18 uprising to be clearly and completely disclosed. Yoon Jang-hyun, mayor of Gwangju said, "People have expectations that the president's promise will be fulfilled. We believe that the state will step up and uncover the truth."

■ Who Ordered Soldiers to Open Fire and What Is the Truth Behind the Shots Fired from Helicopters?

In the Memoirs of Chun Doo-hwan, former President Chun Doo-hwan argued, "People say that I ordered the soldiers to open fire and that I am responsible for the shots fired. How could I, at Seoul at the time, go around and tell each soldier to 'shoot'?" Despite that the Supreme Court had convicted Chun for leading the Gwangju massacre twenty years ago, he insisted he was not responsible. In fact, he further argued, "The honor of the Korean soldiers, who were falsely accused of slaughtering innocent citizens, must be restored. I never attended any meeting to design, order or execute a plan of operations of the martial forces."

The military records at the time prove that Chun's argument is false. In 2007, the defense ministry's "past truth commission" found military records that suggested that former President Chun gave the order to fire. A record of the meeting held in the defense minister's office on May 21, when the soldiers opened fired in front of the provincial office, states, "Minister Ju Yeong-bok, Chief Yi Hui-seong, Commander Jin Jong-chae, Capital Defense Commander Roh Tae-woo, Special Operations Commander Jeong Ho-yong, Joint Investigation Headquarters Commander Chun Doo-hwan.... President Chun (Chun Doo-hwan): Stressed that sentries practice their right to self-defense according to the regulation on soldiers' duties in case of a riot."

We also need to reveal whether the martial forces fired at the citizens from helicopters. The 150 bullet markets discovered on the tenth floor of the Jeonil Building in front of the Jeollanam-do Provincial Office last January are evidence of shots fired from helicopters. This building was the tallest building in Geumnam-ro in 1980 and still preserves the wounds from back then since it has not been renovated in the past 37 years. A team at the Gwangju Metropolitan Office, researching this issue searched through the operation records of the martial forces and found a guideline from the Army Headquarters that ordered soldiers to fire machine guns from helicopters on May 22. However, in 1996 a prosecutors' investigation and the investigation by the defense ministry's past truth commission both concluded that they could not confirm whether shots were fired from helicopters. The investigation at the time focused on whether the machine guns installed in helicopters were fired and some experts argued that they excluded the possibility of soldiers firing rifles from the helicopters.

■ 76 People Still Missing, Likely to Have Been Buried

In the May 18th National Cemetery in Unjeong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, there are dozens of graves without bodies. It is the grave of the people who went missing at the time of the May 18 uprising. There are 76 missing people. The city of Gwangju received 441 applications for the recognition of meritorious services claiming that their family members went missing at the time of the May 18 uprising, and among them the city recognized 76 people after a thorough examination.

Most of the missing people are believed to have been killed and buried by the martial forces at the time of the uprising. Currently, one case in which the airborne troops killed and buried citizens has been officially confirmed. According to the results of an investigation by the defense ministry's past truth commission, on May 23, the 11th Airborne Division fired at a minibus in Junam Village in Dong-gu, Gwangju killing civilians. The unit dragged two citizens who survived the shooting into the mountains, and shot and buried them. The bodies were later recovered on June 2 after a report from nearby residents, but at the time there were no articles to identify the bodies. Their identities were confirmed only in 2002 by DNA analysis.

Thirty-seven years have passed, but searching for the missing victims was beyond the government's interest. The city of Gwangju launched a project to locate the missing victims of the May 18 uprising in 2002 and had excavated nine locations reported to be burial sites by 2009, but with no results. From the start, there was little chance in pinpointing the exact location just based on reports from the citizens, without referring to military records or statements from back then.

Jeong Su-man, chairman of the May 18 victims' families group said, "They have to uncover the truth this time, not to seek punishment, but to ease the suffering of the citizens who have lost their families and for national reconciliation."

■ Manipulation of Records. We Need to Hurry and Investigate the Truth

Ahead of the parliamentary hearing on the May 18 Democratic Uprising in 1988, the Security Command at the time manipulated military records. Initiated by the Security Command, a May 11 Research Committee was gathered with fifteen members from the defense ministry and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. This committee reviewed military records on the May 18 uprising and manipulated and distorted facts and expressions that worked against the military. In order to justify the shooting by the soldiers, they changed facts to make it look like the citizens were the first to open fire, and concealed the fact that the soldiers used bayonets to suppress the protesters.

Researchers of the May 18 uprising claim that such distortion of records on the incident is still in progress. In order to prevent this, we need to enact legislation to prevent the discarding of relevant material and release military records categorized as classified. There are many who argue that the government needs to establish a special committee to uncover the truth of the May 18 uprising and publish a state report to block any attempts to tarnish the event. Dr. Ahn Gil-jeong, a member of Gwangju's team to uncover the truth of the May 18 uprising said, "There are fifty volumes of records on the May 18 uprising at the Security Command (currently the Defense Security Command), but more than ten of them have never been released and various military records are still classified. It is necessary for the state to carry out a full-scale investigation on this matter."