I think no matter what the evidence says this was something that was going to happen regardless because this is more about politics than fact finding:
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo reads out a statement on Feb. 9, 2018, offering an apology for the military’s use of force against pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju in 1980. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s defense minister offered an official apology Friday for the military’s brutal use of force against pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju in 1980.
“As the minister of national defense, I offer a sincere apology and (words of) comfort to Gwangju citizens that our military has left suffering in the process of the May 18 Democratization Movement 38 years ago,” Song Young-moo said in a statement.
It came two days after the ministry’s special fact-finding team announced the results of five months of investigation into suspicions about the military’s role in the suppression of those protesting against the junta of Chun Doo-hwan.
The civilian-government panel said the Army launched helicopter gunship attacks on citizens in the southwestern city, with fighter jets armed with bombs on standby as a backup. The findings were based on the review of documents and interviews on witnesses. [Yonhap]
Don’t know if any of you are interested in a Korean movie about the Kwangju Uprising or not but (if you don’t understand Korean and) don’t mind reading subtitles, I recommend seeing A Taxi Driver (2017) – 택시운전사 (Taeksi Unjeonsa). It is well directed and the acting is stellar.
Another movie about the uprising is May 18 – 화려한 휴가 (Hwaryeohan hyuga). The directing is poor, the acting is very over-acted but it will still hit you in the “feels,” especially the last scene.
A Taxi Driver is every bit as historically accurate as the upcoming Inspector K movie. Or the one where the two Korean guys ended up defending Normandy in WW2…
The “Uprising” itself was much more like the Tiananmen Square incident where the people dying (students) were not those who started the violence (pro-government unions). At Kwangju, the communists got a bunch of otherwise decent if naive people fired up about government corruption, left town, and blamed the Americans, even though it was just the incompetent Chun Doo-hwan who got suckered into creating bad PR by overreacting to the protests. No way Reagan would have approved that type of action: he understood how to set the scene .
It’s truly sad that South Koreans have such a bad taste in leaders.
Don’t know if any of you are interested in a Korean movie about the Kwangju Uprising or not but (if you don’t understand Korean and) don’t mind reading subtitles, I recommend seeing A Taxi Driver (2017) – 택시운전사 (Taeksi Unjeonsa). It is well directed and the acting is stellar.
Another movie about the uprising is May 18 – 화려한 휴가 (Hwaryeohan hyuga). The directing is poor, the acting is very over-acted but it will still hit you in the “feels,” especially the last scene.
A Taxi Driver – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6878038/
May 18 – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800341/
A Taxi Driver is every bit as historically accurate as the upcoming Inspector K movie. Or the one where the two Korean guys ended up defending Normandy in WW2…
The “Uprising” itself was much more like the Tiananmen Square incident where the people dying (students) were not those who started the violence (pro-government unions). At Kwangju, the communists got a bunch of otherwise decent if naive people fired up about government corruption, left town, and blamed the Americans, even though it was just the incompetent Chun Doo-hwan who got suckered into creating bad PR by overreacting to the protests. No way Reagan would have approved that type of action: he understood how to set the scene .
It’s truly sad that South Koreans have such a bad taste in leaders.