In materials dedicated to the new President of South Korea Yoon Seok-yeol, the author constantly emphasizes that it is wrong to perceive him as a typical representative of the conservative camp. Of course, part of his politics is dictated by him becoming president as the candidate from the People Power Party (PPP), but his personal position on many issues is rooted in the days when as a student activist he took part in the show trial of General Chun Doo-hwan after he seized power. Recent events are a very important confirmation of this, but first things first.
On May 18, South Korea marked the anniversary of the uprising that unfolded in 1980 in the city of Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, against the military dictatorship of then President Chun Doo-hwan. Then the military, who was sent to suppress student demonstrations, first opened fire to kill, and then began to beat everyone who came within reach, suspecting the civilian population of Gwangju of “sympathy for the rebels.” Students and citizens took up arms, and by May 21, 1980, the entire city, with the exception of its prisons, was under the control of the rebels.
The leaders of the uprising sought to buy time in the hopes that pressure from the United States and public opinion inside South Korea would destroy the military’s plans to seize power in the country. Washington, however, decided that carte blanche to put down what seemed to be a left-wing rebellion would make Chun Doo-hwan more obedient, and on May 27 the uprising was brutally crushed by troops and elite special forces, and the protesters were accused of sympathizing with and aiding the North Korean communists.
According to official figures, the events claimed the lives of more than 200 people, but mortality statistics suggest that the death toll is actually about 2,000. More than 3,100 people were injured and nearly 1,600 were arrested or tortured.
Since then, the city of Gwangju and the province of Jeolla have been the main stronghold of the Democratic Party. In the 2022 presidential election, the party’s candidate, Lee Jae-myung, won 84.82% of the vote in the city, while Yoon received only 12.72%.
The attitude to this event is a good marker that separates the classic arguments of Democrats and Conservatives. For the former, the May 18 uprising is a pro-democracy movement against the military junta that is generally worth entering in the preamble to the Constitution.
Representatives of the latter call the uprising a riot staged by the crowd, and some on the far right even make unfounded accusations, in the author’s opinion, that it was a communist uprising aimed at undermining the statehood of the country organized and implemented by North Korean agents. These include, for instance, Kim Jin-tae, who is running for governor of Gangwon-do Province in local elections scheduled for June 1, or far-right professor Ji Man-won, who constantly claims that the uprising in Gwangju was not led by local residents, but by North Korean soldiers who infiltrated the South, although his theses have been publicly refuted. The people from the photographs whom he declared to be inserted agents of the DPRK, sued him and easily won their lawsuit.
In 1997, May 18 was declared a national day of remembrance. Although conservative presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye could not miss the event, the memorial ceremony has been held on a larger or smaller scale depending on the president in power, and the date each time has been the subject of controversy in the media.
A separate moment was associated with the song “March for the Beloved.” This protest song became a symbol of rebellion, but under conservatives its performance was not encouraged – in 2008, Lee Myung-bak tried to sing along, but was forced to ban this song the following year in the face of strong protests by conservative groups. The song returned to the ceremony in 2011, but Park Geun-hye did not sing it, and it was considered undesirable for the audience to sing along with the activists’ choir.
Under Moon Jae-in, all participants were required to sing it. Moreover, since January 5, 2022, a law adopted by the government of Moon Jae-in has been in force in the ROK. According to it, denying the official (leftist) interpretation of events is just as dangerous as denying the Holocaust in Europe and brings with it up to 5 years in prison and/or a 50 million won fine. For instance, over claims that the uprising was sabotage by the North Korean special forces, Professor Ji Man-won received 2 years’ probation and a fine of 1 million won ($850), and the Korea Communications Standards Commission demanded that YouTube completely remove his channel and a number of other conservative YouTubers for distorting history.
Therefore, for the author, how the ceremony would go was an important marker, and “Yoon did not let him down.”
First, he did not just come himself, but asked all his senior aides and deputies from the ruling party to take part in the state memorial ceremony. There were no rejections, and as party chairman Lee Jun-seok said in an interview with KBS Radio, “If all of our lawmakers can attend a memorial ceremony, the PPP can clearly show a different image as a conservative party”.
Overall, the ceremony was attended by about 2,000 people, including civil activists and family members of the fallen fighters for democracy.
Prior to attending the ceremony, the president met with family members who had lost loved ones during the uprising and promised to visit the cemetery every year, per presidential officials. Let’s hope that in 2023 we’ll see this promise fulfilled.
Second, while speaking at a solemn ceremony at the Gwangju National Cemetery, Yoon Seok-yeol stated that the spirit of the May 18 Uprising, which defended liberal democracy with blood, is the restoration of human values and the cornerstone of national unity.
Third, Yoon personally sang “March for the Beloved,” and did so with apparent pleasure. Other government officials and deputies did so as well.
Both left- and right-wing media outlets called this action unprecedented. The Democratic Party of Korea, however, attempted to downplay Yoon’s actions, claiming that the mass memorial ceremony was aimed at attracting voters in the provinces of Gwangju and Jeolla ahead of local elections scheduled for June 1. But the author remembers that before the May ceremony, Yoon tried several times to pay his respects to the victims of the uprising, and the Democrats, who are trying to monopolize the memory of the uprising, did not allow him to do so, accusing him of insincerity and playing on the public’s sympathies. In November 2021, when Yoon was a presidential candidate, protesters blocked his path to the monument. Yoon once again tried to approach the monument in February 2022, but was unable to light incense to pay his respects there.
In this way, Yoon Seok-yeol did not only just pay his respects to the heroes and victims of the uprising by hosting the event as if it were a Democratic president in charge, but tried to eliminate the misconception that the uprising is a memory exclusive to a certain region and political camp. And if one compares his speech at the ceremony with what he said at his inauguration about freedom and human rights, Yoon offers a fresh perspective that incorporates May 18 into conservative ideals. Taking such a stance is an opportunity to overcome regional antagonism, go beyond ideological conflicts, and promote national unity.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of the Far East at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
