ROK Army Chief of Staff Apologizes for 1980 Gwangju Incident; Does It Really Matter?

GIKorea | October 19, 2020 | Politics-Korea | 4 Comments

No apology will ever make the Korean left happy on this issue. Just like with the comfort women issue, they need to keep this issue alive to bash their political enemies with. So in the grand scheme of things this apology is meaningless to the Korean left:

A mother of a victim killed during the May 18 pro-democracy uprising weeps at the national cemetery in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 17, 2020, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the movement. (Yonhap)

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Nam Yeong-shin apologized Friday for the military’s brutal crackdown on protestors during a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, vowing to fully cooperate with an ongoing probe into the case.
This is the first time in 40 years that an Army chief officially apologized for the bloody incident.
“I believe that the military’s involvement in the May 18 Democratization Movement is gravely wrong,” Nam said during a parliamentary audit of the Army on Friday. “I’d like to offer a sincere apology to victims and bereaved families.”
Yonhap

You can read more at the link.