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Gwangju Uprising: The Rebellion for Democracy in South Korea Paperback – May 17, 2022

by Hwang Sok-yong (Author), Lee Jae-Eui (Author), Jeon Yong-Ho (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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The essential account of the South Korean 1980 pro-democracy rebellion

On May 18, 1980, student activists gathered in the South Korean city of Gwangju to protest the coup d’état and the martial law government of General Chun Doo-hwan. The security forces responded with unmitigated violence. Over the next ten days hundreds of students, activists, and citizens were arrested, tortured, and murdered. The events of the uprising shaped over a decade of resistance to the repressive South Korean regime and paved the way for the country’s democratization.

This fresh translation by Slin Jung of a text compiled from eyewitness testimonies presents a gripping and comprehensive account of both the events of the uprising and the political situation that preceded and followed the violence of that period. Included is a preface by acclaimed Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong.

Gwangju Uprising is a vital resource for those interested in East Asian contemporary history and the global struggle for democracy.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Verso
  4. Publication date
    May 17, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6.01 x 1.26 x 9.2 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1788737148
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1788737142
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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"This publication not only provides the reader with an incredible history of the ten days in May 1980 when the uprising occurred, it does so by keeping the spirit of the uprising intact...I couldn't help but be reminded of John Reed's classic journalism on Russia's October Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World or even the slender text by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair reporting the 1999 uprising in Seattle against the World Trade Organization, 5 Days That Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond. Still, this book goes beyond these titles in its depth and breadth discussing what was perhaps one of the greatest post-Sixties movements until the series of anti-capitalist globalization protests that shook up the world from 1999-2001. Besides its role as a journal, it also serves as a handbook - a manual, if you will - of how such events unfold and how they are run."
—Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch

"Serves as a testament not only to the broad mobilization for democracy, but also to the painstaking efforts of those who collected and published the information in defiance of the government."
—Darcie Draudt, International Affairs

"The story of the Gwangju Uprising is preserved in this book...it is a history that deserves to be recorded and deserves to be shared."
—International Examiner

"Gwangju Uprising sets the record straight with far too much detail to refute, offering a sobering lesson for the people of the future about what sacrifices were made for freedom in the Republic of Korea...A moving work of exceptional scholarship."
—Patrick McShane, Asian Review of Books

"This book celebrates the courage and tenacity of the people, particularly the brave writers who persevered during an era of an oppressive dictatorship, and recorded the struggle for human rights, freedom, and against a succession of corrupt leaders, and the witnesses who boldly came forward during that era to tell their stories in an environment of oppression and fear."
—Bill Drucker, Korean Quarterly

About the Author

Hwang Sok-yong has achieved international acclaim and his status as an imprisoned, exiled, and dissident author has been championed by World PEN. His many novels include At Dusk, Familiar Things, and The Guest.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso (May 17, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1788737148
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1788737142
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.01 x 1.26 x 9.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

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  1. Slin Jung

    Slin Jung

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Slin Jung is a translator of Korean currently based in Toronto, Canada.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Sok-Yong Hwang

    Sok-Yong Hwang

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    ‘Hwang Sok-yong is undoubtedly the most powerful voice of the novel in East Asia today.’ Kenzaburo Oe

    Born in 1943 Hwang Sok-yong is arguably Korea’s most renowned author. In 1993, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorised trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South Korea. Five years later, he was released on a special pardon by the new president.

    He is the recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes including the Manhae Literary Prize, the Danjae Literary Prize, the Isan Literary Prize, the Daesan Literature Prize for THE GUEST, the Manhae Literary Award Grand Prize, the Korea Culture and Arts Foundation ‘This Year’s’ Art Prize, the Mark of Respect Award and was shortlisted for the Prix Femina Etranger. His novel THE ROAD TO SAMPO (1973) was made into a successful film and has recently been reissued in French by Editions Philippe Picquier. His multi-volume epic JANG GILSAN, serialised in a daily newspaper (1974-84), uses the parable of a medieval bandit to foil the censors. A huge success in North as well as South Korea, it has sold over a million copies and remains a bestseller in Korean fiction today. His novel AT DUSK won the Emile Guimet Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and his novels FAMILIAR THINGS, PRINCESS BARI, SHIM CHUNG, THE ANCIENT GARDEN, SHADOW OF ARMS have all be published to great acclaim all over the world.

    ‘The author proves in a downright brilliant way, again and again, why he is seen in Korea as one of the most important national writers.’ Le Monde

    See more on the author's page
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4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
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Top reviews from the United States

geminif4ucorsair
5.0 out of 5 stars An intense account of the uprising in Gwangju city - May 17-27, 1980
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2022
Few non-Asian historians would likely know of the uprising that took place in the city of Gwangju, South Korea between May 17-27, 1980. The university students began the protests against a prior military coup
in December 1979, by a cabal of senior South Korean army officers intent on taking over the country - government, the Courts, big business firms, and the military not then under their control. Martial law was the spark that lit the fuse in Gwangju.

The senior officers were all members of a cabal known as the "Singunbu" group - right-wing officers who had no interest in the rising democracy in South Korea and the declining influence of the military in the power structure of the country. On October 26, 1979, the Director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) assassinated the right-wing military regime of Park Chung-hee - killing him and setting the marbles in motion that would lead to the December coup. What followed were several edits by the new cabal's military regime - including Martial Law on the southern peninsula.

From the view of the Singunbu coup members, their authoritarian response was "lessons learned" from the earlier Busan-Masan Democratization protests earlier in the year - "a quick and powerful response was the most effective way to end protests." (p. 11) On May 17th, the Martial Law Command would order Operation Loyalty, a effort to enforce adherence to new laws and orders. The following day, some two hundred-plus students gathered at Chonnam University and elsewhere, resulting in clashes with the ROK Army 7th Airborne Special Forces Brigade. These protests, begun largely with only university students, soon fathered momentum, gaining the support of the religious community, then townsfolk, etc.
A full blown rebellion was in hand.

The takeover of key points within the city followed over the days, and the military established the Sangmudai Holding Cells - a military tribunal style court to try those jailed during the uprising day.
Brutality and severe sentences followed, including death sentences handed out in mass.

In the decade that followed the regime, efforts to create investigations went no where, until the ROK Supreme Court ruled that military uprisings, coup and similar acts were not a component of the ROK Constitution. That would lead to prosecution of former leaders of the cabal: CHUN Do-hwan and ROH Tae-woo - and then the cascading downward of trials and sentencing of other coup leaders. Between mid-year 1994 and 1995, seventy prosecutions were filed against fifty-eight (58) individuals - military members from battalion or higher in rank.

Initially CHUN was given a death sentence; on appeal, reduced to life in prison (and huge financial penalty); ROH was initially given 22-years - reduced on appeal to 17-years (and big financial penalty).
The rest of the coup and martial law enforcing officers received penalties ranging from seven to eight years for the higher rank officers, down to three years for some Capitol Garrison and Sirborne Special Force Brigade commanders.

What is most compelling about the book is the details of individual students and their movements and actions during the uprising in Gwangju. That is what really makes the story of individuals and how one acts during such events. The book is a translation with revisions of the original Korean version. If you are interested in how military coups, the military of South Korea (and elsewhere in Asian), and how events such as Martial Law's can be the spark of democracy rebellions - its a good book to read.

RECOMMENDED.
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Hayana Kim
5.0 out of 5 stars A tremendous gift for global readers
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2022
This book is incontrovertibly the most comprehensive and accurate investigation into the Gwangju Uprising, English and Korean scholarship combined. Written by one of South Korea’s most influential writers, as well as by scholars and activists who were firsthand participants in the uprising and lifelong advocates for democracy, this book is an invaluable contribution to the field of modern Korean history with the book’s significance reverberating far beyond Korean Studies but across the fields of human rights studies, global democracy studies, and international relations, especially between the US and East Asia at the turn of the 1980s and onward.

Specialists in Korean Studies and US-Korea relations know that the book has been a legendary one since when it came out back in Korean in 1985, instantly becoming a classic for those who were committed to the cause of democracy. The book then later became available in English, too, when UCLA printed it as part of its Asian Pacific Monograph Series in 1999.

But this particular brand new publication by Verso is distinct as it updates the UCLA one, providing a full-length translation of the second edition of the book published in Korean in 2017, expanding the first edition by drawing on a robust set of state and military documents that became declassified — documents that were simply unavailable when the first book came out. This book is therefore the most accurate and credible account of the Gwangju Uprising available for global readers.

On a more personal note, I am also truly thrilled that this book is published with Verso, giving the English readers who might not be familiar with the topic a great sense of guidance in terms of which book to read to study the Gwangju Uprising. As many people likely are aware, some of the books that have been searchable on Amazon — although they purport to be a study of the uprising — were phenomenally useless as they were an outright misrepresentation of the uprising, full of false, absolutely groundless claims, just replicating meaningless word vomits which began spreading as part of backlashes that came from the extreme, right-wing side. This Verso book was therefore simply so needed for English readers — a tremendous gift and a de facto piece of epistemological justice, if you will.

I also strongly believe that the book needs to be included in school syllabi for undergrad and grad students studying in related disciplines. Genuinely excited for this book!
2 people found this helpful
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Tim Shorrock
5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my life.
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2022
I read the first horrific newspaper accounts of what happened in Gwangju in 1980 while I was a graduate student in Korean Studies at the University of Oregon. About 7 months later I visited the city as a journalist and heard eye-witness accounts about the massacre and uprising from two American missionaries who lived through it. But it took many more years before the full story got out, both in Korea and internationally. This book, which was first circulated underground in Korea, is the best history of the Gwangju Uprising available in print. It chronicles the uprising from the point of view of the brave men and women who organized the resistance and shows how ordinary citizens - artists, dancers, writers, students, teachers, prostitutes, grandmothers - fought back against the tyranny of the US-backed general Chun Doo Hwan. It's an extraordinary book you will treasure. I first read an earlier vision in the 1990s, and it changed my life, sparking my years-long investigation into the American role in Gwangju during those critical days in the 1980s. I'm very glad to see this book out now and urge anyone remotely interested in Korea to read it. Tim Shorrock/Washington, DC USA.
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Fair and balanced
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic resource!
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2022
This book is invaluable for anyone who studies Korean history or politics. It's crucial for human rights activists to understand modern Korea and how Korea became a democracy. The book also details important aspects of the Carter administration's involvement in Korea at the time. This is an absolute must-read.
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Top reviews from other countries

Simona
4.0 out of 5 stars Good purchase
Reviewed in Italy on December 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
The book arrived in perfect condition, carefully packed. A few days late, but because of Brexit and the couriers’ strikes in the UK, it is understandable. Would buy again from this seller.
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Julie
5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative read
Reviewed in Germany on June 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
So happy I bought this book. It hurts to read because of all the people who suffered for their rights but it’s such an informative and fantastic read. Unfortunately you don’t learn much about Asian history in German schools. I’ve a big interest in Korean culture and history and this book thought me a lot. It’s very detailed and honest. Is it hard to stomach? Yes! But you won’t regret buying it.
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