Do you know about Gwangju incident in 1980 ?

shsong21 · #1 02-12-2006, 04:39 PM

Why did silent USA ? Why did not helpde us that time ?
My old brother was one of resistance power against the military authorities.
518 Gwangju incident is a people´s[popular] revolution !
Many students and citizens was die in that time.
But USA is hold[keep] one's peace ! why did it ?
I very wonder that !

mike · #2 02-12-2006, 06:39 PM

The US policy in South Korea has always been to defend the country from external threats and has not been involved in internal South Korean politics. Let's not forget that these protestors we not very peaceful and many thought they were inspired by North Korea. Even in your pictures I can see dead military members.

Quote:

On May 20, enraged protesters burned down the MBC local station which misrepresented the students' reasons for protesting.

The U.S. can not back every popular movement in South Korea. We can not and never should send in U.S. soldiers to either stop uprisings in South Korea or should we force South Korean governments to step down.

In the case of Gwangju what should the U.S have done? If we forced the ruling government to step down it would have had worse effect. Just imagine North Korea saying, "see the South Korean governments are simply puppets of the U.S." Also, it would have shown that the South Koreans can not rule their own country.

Here are some facts of the U.S. involvement from Wikipedia.org.

Quote:

Tim Shorrock, through his analysis of recently declassified U.S. government documents, has shown the following discoveries regarding U.S. involvement with the incident (Source: Tim Shorrock, “U.S. Knew of South Korean Crackdown: Ex-Leaders Go on Trial in Seoul,” Journal of Commerce 27, February 27, 1996):

Senior officials in the Carter administration, fearing that chaos in South Korea could unravel a vital military ally and possibly tempt North Korea to intervene, approved Mr. Chun's plans to use military units against the huge student demonstrations that rocked Korean cities in the spring of 1980.

Two of the key decision-makers at the time were Warren Christopher, President Clinton's secretary of state, and Richard C. Holbrooke, who retired last week as the Clinton administration's chief negotiator on Bosnia to join the New York investment banking firm of CS First Boston. Mr. Christopher was deputy secretary of state in 1980 and Mr. Holbrooke, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Bosnia, was assistant secretary of state of East Asian and Pacific affairs.

U.S. officials in Seoul and Washington knew Mr. Chun's contingency plans included the deployment of Korean Special Warfare Command troops, trained to fight behind the lines in a war against North Korea. The Black Beret Special Forces, who were not under U.S. command, were modeled after the U.S. Green Berets and had a history of brutality dating back to their participation alongside American troops in the Vietnam War.

On May 22, 1980, in the midst of the Kwangju Uprising, the Carter administration approved further use of force to retake the city and agreed to provide short-term support to Mr. Chun if he agreed to long-term political change. At a White House meeting on that date, plans were also discussed for direct U.S. military intervention if the situation got out of hand.

Again, for the U.S. we feared this could have turned the country into chaos and North Korea could have taken advantage of it. Remember, Jimmy Carter just lost Iran!

Mike

shsong21 · #3 02-12-2006, 06:45 PM

Jeonnam Gwangju is very great city and very historycal city.
Korean's democratization establish from city here !
You have to know this a historical fact !
Are you understand ?

mike · #4 02-12-2006, 07:02 PM

Shsong21,

Just for you I created a Gwangju Incident Gallery. Feel free to upload these images into it.

Mike

shsong21 · #5 02-12-2006, 07:19 PM

Mike;
나의 글은 미국의 군사적인 개입을 뜻하는것이 아니다.
그당시 미국은 한국의 군사정권이 행한 잔혹한 행위를 외면했다.
그리고 그 사실을 알면서도 다른 서방세계에 알리지도 않았다.
미국은 전두환 군사정권의 이런 계획을 사전에 알고 있었다.
그리고 시민들의 항쟁이 정당하다는것을 알면서도 침묵을 지켰다.
왜냐하면 미국은 한국의 군부와 손을 잡아야 했기 때문이다.
미국은 한국의 쿠데타 정권을 인정했다.
왜 ?
미국은 한국의 공산화를 원하지 않기 때문이다.
그래서 군사정권의 잔혹한 행위를 침묵해야 했다.
우리는 그 사실을 잘 알고 있다.
나는 1980년 광주에 있었다. 그리고 군사정권의 잔혼한 행동을
지켜봤다.
그당시 시민군에 있었던 세대들이 오늘날 한국의 민주화를 이룩했다.
우리는 계속 한국을 변화 시킬것이다.
미국은 그것을 알아야 한다. !
바로 나와 같은 세대가 지금의 한국을 변화 시키고 있다는 사실을......
We are get change Korean-American relations

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