Word: kwangju
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...token opposition candidates. Even by South Korea's standards of political legitimacy, the former army general was widely regarded as a usurper. In 1980 Chun was among those in the South Korean high command who ordered heavily armed troops to quell a popular uprising in the city of Kwangju, resulting in at least 180 deaths. He has been blamed for, though he was not personally involved in, a series of financial scandals, including several that implicated members of his family. "Because Chun lacked legitimacy, he had to build power through money and through violence," said a South Korean university economist...
Massive anti-government protest erupted Friday in 37 cities and continued early today in areas of Seoul and the cities of Kwangju, Chonju and Masan...
Rocks and other missiles flew through the air like shrapnel as some 1,500 students rioted on the fourth day of antigovernment protests at Kwangju's Chonnam University. Riot police with orders to disperse the demonstrators charged into the crowd, flailing nightsticks. As the running battle continued, one group of students overpowered a police officer and bound him hand and foot, beating him relentlessly in the process. The captured officer would be held hostage, the students announced, until five of their comrades arrested the day before were released. The police responded brutally and effectively. They stormed buildings across the campus...
Much of the turmoil, especially among the students, was a prelude to the anniversary this week of a 1980 uprising in Kwangju. Seven years ago, after martial law was suddenly imposed throughout South Korea, rioters in the southwestern city of 700,000 took to the streets, overran ill-prepared police and seized virtually all public buildings. In response, the government mobilized a division of front-line army troops and ordered a military attack against the rebelling civilians. The result was a bloodbath that left nearly 200 people dead. Ever since, the Kwangju massacre has been associated with a group...
Strong as the memory of Kwangju remains in South Korean political life, however, the immediate cause of this year's extraordinary turmoil was a much more recent event. On April 13 Chun abruptly announced the end of a one-year- old national debate over electoral reform by declaring that no changes in the current system of choosing a chief executive would be contemplated until after the 1988 Summer Olympic Games, which are to be held in Seoul. To continue arguing about the matter while South Korea stands in the spotlight of world attention, said Chun, would "deepen our internal schisms...