May 18th Massacre

What the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre is to China, the 1980 Gwangju Massacre is to South Korea, a mass demonstration and protest against an authoritarian regime with deadly consequences that became an icon for its time.

Following large-scale student protests against military rule, on 18 May 1980 the army was ordered to move into Gwangju on the pretext of quelling a communist uprising. The soldiers had no bullets, but they used bayonets to murder dozens of unarmed protesters and passers-by. Outraged residents broke into armouries and police stations and used the seized weapons and ammunition to drive the troops out of their city.

For over a week pro-democracy citizen groups were in control, but the brutal military response came nine days later on 27 May, when soldiers armed with loaded M16 rifles, supported by helicopters and tanks, retook the city. Most of the protest leaders were labelled 'communists' and summarily shot. At least 154 civilians were killed during the uprising, and an additional 4089 were wounded or arrested. Many of those arrested were tortured. For eyewitness accounts of the still-controversial street fighting, read Memories of May 1980 by Chung Sang-yong (2003) or view www.518.org.

In memory of the pro-democracy martyrs, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights has been awarded since 2000, and recipients have included Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader struggling to overthrow the military rulers in Myanmar.

--Korea Lonely Planet