Forty years since the Gwangju rising

The Columban involvement

The Gwangju rising was an event that shaped modern Korean history. On the 40th anniversary of this significant moment for democracy, Fr Donal O’Keeffe recalls the Columban involvement.

May 18, National Cemetery, Gwangju. Photo: Fr Donal O'Keefe SSC

May 18, National Cemetery, Gwangju. Photo: Soyoung Kim

Following the assassination of the dictatorial president Park Chung-hee in October 1979, the Spring of 1980 was a time of great hope in Korea. The country was preparing for free elections and people were holding public rallies demanding change. However, on May 17 martial law was declared and the opposition leaders were arrested. This led to widespread demonstrations especially in Gwangju in Jeollanamdo, the home province of the main opposition figure, Kim Dae Jung. The army was sent in, the city isolated, censorship was imposed and the movement for democracy in the city was brutally suppressed with hundreds of people killed and injured.

According to the authorities, the number killed was 144. But according to the Bereaved Family Association, at least 165 civilians died between May 18 and May 27. Another 76 are still missing. Some argue that the actual death toll was over 1,000. Today, 40 years later, the country is still searching for the truth and for the missing bodies.

In 1980, seven Columban priests worked in Gwangju and a further ten in the surrounding areas. The Foreign Ministry had ordered that all foreigners should leave the province but the Columbans had decided to stay with the people. 

Fr Dan O’Gorman worked in the parish of Yeong Gwang just outside Gwangju City. He and a diocesan priest, Fr Francis Songyong Kim, were instrumental in getting the news of the suppression and killings out to the world.

Last June I met Fr Dan in Ireland and heard his recollection of those events. He recalled driving into Gwangju City to get the latest news about his confreres on Monday, May 26, 1980. “I only got to the outskirts, Songjungri, when I noticed some lads on the roofs with guns. I stopped, got out of the car and held up a white handkerchief. A few of them came down to see me. They said they were expecting the army and they told me to get out of there. The next thing I heard the tanks coming. So I went into a house where the people told me to lie on the floor.”

“Then a loudspeaker told everyone inside to come out. I went out first. They had their guns trained on me. My jeep had been turned on its side and two soldiers were behind it. A young guy came out of another house and said there were guns inside. Then the rest of the lads came out with their arms up. The army personnel put them up against the wall and beat the heck out of them. I asked them: ‘Why are you doing that?’ They said the lads were the enemy. The soldiers turned my jeep over and they escorted me part of the way back to Yeong Gwang.”

Photo: Fr Donal O'Keefe SSC

[L-R] 1. Fr Dan O'Gorman with Bishop Paul Kim, 1977  2. Fr Francis Kim & Columban lay missionary coordinator Anna Hyein Noh in Korea 3. Fr Donal O'Keeffe & Fr Dan O'Gorman, 2019. Photo: Soyoung Kim

In January this year I met Fr Francis Songyong Kim, a priest of the Diocese of Gwangju, now retired in Korea. As pastor of Namdong parish in downtown Gwangju he witnessed what was happening. He recalled coming out for Sunday morning Mass on May 18 and learned that martial law had been imposed nationwide the previous night. Over the following days he witnessed soldiers arresting people, often for no reason, stripping them down to their underwear and mercilessly beating them with clubs. Testimonies, photographs, and internal records attest to the use of bayonets. This brutality led to demonstrations and further reprisals. The worst day was May 21 when over 50 people were shot dead by the military. The archbishop and priests were to the fore in trying to negotiate a solution and Fr Francis was nominated as spokesperson for a newly established ‘Citizens Settlement Committee’.

On Monday May 26, word came that the army, led by tanks, were coming into the city. Fr Francis and some members of the ‘Citizens Settlement Committee’ decided to approach the military to try and get them to back off. “We negotiated with the military for about four hours but it was futile. A decision was made to get the news out to the rest of the country. I was asked to go to Seoul.”

The problem was how to get out of the city as it was in lockdown. “I got the feeling that if I got to Yeong Gwang, Fr Eun (Dan’s Korean name) would get me out. He would be ‘my guardian angel’.” They arrived after dark at Fr Dan’s church. Fr Dan takes up the story: “There was a knock at the door and who was there but Fr Francis Songyong Kim, with a press man. They said they wanted to go to Seoul. So we got into the jeep. I had disguised Francis. I put some flour on his hair to make him look grey. I had some sunglasses and gave him a leather coat which I had and made him look quite foreign.” It was agreed that Dan would do the talking in English if they were stopped and introduce Francis as a visiting priest who had became ill during his trip from Songjungri.

Again Fr Francis continued the story: “Close to the provincial border we were stopped by soldiers and a tank. One of the soldiers asked Fr Dan ‘Who are you? Fr Dan replied, ‘I am from Yeong Gwang parish.’ The soldier asked, ‘Who is that with you pointing at me.’ Fr Dan said it was a man called Jack Quinn. (In fact Jack Quinn, another Columban, had entered the country a few days previously). They went away to check. After that they said we could go.”

Fr Francis did get to Seoul and met the Cardinal and so the news of Gwangju was sent to Japan and from there all over the world. Afterwards Fr Francis was sentenced to 12 years in jail because of his role in these events. But he was released after one year.

Today, that whole incident is known as the ‘Gwangju Democratic Movement’ and is seen to be a key moment in modern Korean history - a time when the people stood up to armed dictatorship and laid down their lives for freedom. It was also a time that the Church stood with the people. In May 1980, Frs Dan O’Gorman and Francis Songyong Kim played their part and contributed in a very concrete way to the society and the Church we know today in Korea.

Listen to "Forty years since the Gwangju rising"

Related links

The Far East - New Subscription

Code : 4

In Stock | MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION

$6.00  

Annual subscription to The Far East magazine, published by St Columbans Mission Society 8 times per year. It features mission articles and photographs by Columban Missionaries from the countries where they work.

 

See all products