Gwangju National Cemetary
Gwangju is a vital city in the recent history of Korea and is basically the Tienanmen Square of South Korea. It was the site of an event that has been called the Gwangju Communist Uprising, the Gwangju Massacre and is now known as the Gwangju Democritization Movement. The very quick and rough version is that in May of 1980 Gwangju students staged massive protests of the military dictatorship that had taken control of the country. The government responded brutally, killing several of the protesters, and in response there was an uprising and the people took over the city. The government sent in the army, which quickly ended the uprising, killing at least 15 civilians and wounding another 4,000.
Appropriately, when I arrived in Gwangju there was a protest, though I don't know what it was about. I took the 518 (i.e. May 18th) bus to the cemetery outside of town. The cemetery has changed considerably since Simon Winchester was there in the mid 80s. As described in his book, Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles, Winchester walked the length of Korea, from the Southernmost tip to the DMZ, and when he visited the cemetery in Gwangju then, the civilians who died in the incident were buried in a back corner of the cemetery and Winchester was thought to be a communist sympathizer for wanting to see their graves. From 1994 to 1997, when South Korea had a democratic government, a new National Cemetery was built to honor those who are now known as martyrs for democracy, and this is what I visited.
There was a giant monolithic sculpture, which is actually pretty standard for the National Cemeteries, though the rest of them are for those who died in wars. There was also a building in the shape of a giant dolmen (a traditional stone tomb) that enshrined the pictures of the known deceased. On the other end of the grounds was a museum documenting the event, with such relics as bloodstained rocks and Korean flags from the demonstrations. It was a somber place, occasionally made lighter by the cartoonish zodiac animals on the pillars and the room in the museum that was a reconstruction of a typical shop at the time, complete with vintage Star Wars posters. The grounds also contained statues, reliefs, and other works representing the event, as well as the ideals of democracy that the people were fighting for.
Appropriately, when I arrived in Gwangju there was a protest, though I don't know what it was about. I took the 518 (i.e. May 18th) bus to the cemetery outside of town. The cemetery has changed considerably since Simon Winchester was there in the mid 80s. As described in his book, Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles, Winchester walked the length of Korea, from the Southernmost tip to the DMZ, and when he visited the cemetery in Gwangju then, the civilians who died in the incident were buried in a back corner of the cemetery and Winchester was thought to be a communist sympathizer for wanting to see their graves. From 1994 to 1997, when South Korea had a democratic government, a new National Cemetery was built to honor those who are now known as martyrs for democracy, and this is what I visited.
There was a giant monolithic sculpture, which is actually pretty standard for the National Cemeteries, though the rest of them are for those who died in wars. There was also a building in the shape of a giant dolmen (a traditional stone tomb) that enshrined the pictures of the known deceased. On the other end of the grounds was a museum documenting the event, with such relics as bloodstained rocks and Korean flags from the demonstrations. It was a somber place, occasionally made lighter by the cartoonish zodiac animals on the pillars and the room in the museum that was a reconstruction of a typical shop at the time, complete with vintage Star Wars posters. The grounds also contained statues, reliefs, and other works representing the event, as well as the ideals of democracy that the people were fighting for.
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