Eyewitness Account of May 18 Democratization Movement: The Truth Behind the Involvement of Armored Vehicles and the Martial Law forces in the Gwangju Massacre

☞Subscribe to the Hankyoreh Newsletter H:730. Type ‘Hankyoreh 730’ in the search bar. “I can still see the soldier coughing up blood from his mouth with his upper body lifted up.” On the 8th, a 64-year-old Mr. Cho, who came to an office in Buk-gu, Gwangju, said that he would never forget the gruesome scene of martial law soldiers he saw in front of the old South Jeolla Provincial Office on May 21, 1980, 43 years ago. At the time, he said that he was driving an armored vehicle with citizens in front of the protest procession, so he could know the details of the accident. It is the first time that the testimony of a driver who drove an armored vehicle for demonstrators right before the mass shooting in front of the provincial government building by martial law forces came out on the 21st. Mr. Cho said, “In a situation where citizens and martial law troops were confronting each other, college students inside the armored vehicle shouted, ‘Push push! It was not fast because the armored car was heavy,” he recalled. Mr. Cho’s testimony is very important in that it reveals the lie of Chun Doo-hwan and others that the mass shooting in front of the provincial government building on May 21 was ‘a measure to invoke the right to self-defense following the sacrifice of martial law soldiers by demonstrators’ armored vehicles’. Jee Man-Won and other extreme rightists argued that the fact that the militia was driving a military armored vehicle was evidence of the involvement of the North Korean special forces in Gwangju. At the time, citizens were pushing the martial law troops toward the Provincial Office by mobilizing buses and trucks in front of the Jeonil Building. The armored vehicle that Mr. Cho rode was a CM 6614 model wheeled armored vehicle brought by citizens from the Asia Motors (predecessor of Kia Motors) factory. It was different from appearance. The martial law forces, which had already distributed live ammunition before the accident, opened fire on the protesters with M16 rifles and Caliber 50 machine guns mounted on armored vehicles.

At noon on May 21, 1980, in front of the Jeonil Building on Geumnam-ro, Gwangju, a martial law armored vehicle is aiming machine guns at citizens. The upper armored vehicle hit and killed a soldier around 1:00 p.m. Provided by the May 18 Investigation Committee

At the time of the May 18th Democratization Movement, a citizen militia member named Jo, who was at the site of the mass firing at the former Jeollanam-do Provincial Office, points to a picture of an armored vehicle he is believed to have been riding at the time. Reporter Kim Yong-hee [email protected]

Mr. Cho said, “There was an accident and bullets poured in.” In 1980, Mr. Cho spent his days delivering wrapping paper from a factory in Gwangcheon Industrial Complex to a factory in Yeongil Foods in Unam-dong, Buk-gu, using a pony wagon. After getting his driver’s license in 1978, he wanted to work as a truck driver, so he gained driving experience by delivering bread bags and worked as an assistant on an 8-ton truck. I don’t remember the exact date (estimated on the 18th), but I took part in the demonstration after I brought Pagoda bread from Yeongil Food to the riot police in front of the provincial office during the May 18 Democratization Movement. Mr. Cho said, “I was leaving with bread, but the riot police gave me a box of tear gas and said, ‘I have to retreat now, but the bread factory is close to the headquarters. “Did you steal it?” he beat me. He was barely able to explain the situation and avoid the seat only after he was covered in blood.” It is said that Mr. Cho took the Pony vehicle to the president’s house in Hwajeong-dong and took part in the protest after being absent from work without permission. He recalled, “I went to the road between Sangmu-gwan and Dongbu Police Station, and there was an armored car standing there, and college students were looking for someone to drive it.” It is said that the driver’s seat of the armored vehicle was similar to that of a regular truck, only the shape and location of the shift lever were different.

During the May 18 Democratization Movement, martial law soldiers are using tracked armored vehicles to arrest citizens on buses. Capture of the Defense Security Command photo album

Mr. Cho explained, “Except for the narrow visibility, I was able to drive an armored vehicle.” The transfer was repeated several times, 2 to 5 people at a time. He said that he still felt sorry for the deceased because the inside of the vehicle was cramped and the corpses were stacked up and down. Every time we went to evacuation, there was a constant sound of bullets hitting armored vehicles. When I said that I was afraid to get off, a college student named Gwang-soo (or Kwang-hee), who was in the seat next to me and was 2 years older than me, dissuaded me and said, ‘If you’re not there, who will drive the armored car?’ Even when I went down to the provincial government building to go to the bathroom, the student militia always stuck with me, fearing that Mr. Cho would disappear. Shortly after receiving unusually heavy fire from Songam-dong, Mr. Cho dropped off a patient at Gwangju Christian Hospital, stopped an armored vehicle, and ran out. Afterwards, he was captured by martial law troops and taken to the Sangmudae barracks, but was released when he suffered a broken wrist joint during the arrest and demanded treatment. Mr. Cho, who currently runs a small business, said that he had been hiding his participation in the protests for over 40 years, fearing that he would be disadvantaged. However, when the far-right forces used the citizen army armored vehicle as a basis for infiltrating the North Korean special forces, he contacted the May 18 Memorial Foundation in 2020 and testified about driving the armored vehicle. Mr. Cho emphasized, “Anyone who knows how to drive a truck can drive a wheeled armored vehicle,” and “May 18th will not end until the distortion of the truth stops.” “Chun Doo-hwan argued in his memoirs that an armored vehicle of the militia rushed in and killed and killed a soldier, resulting in a court battle with the May 18th Movement, and is currently pending in the Supreme Court,” said Cha Jong-soo, director of the Archives and Truth Department of the May 18 Memorial Foundation. It is a meaningful testimony that can break the world.”

On May 21, 1980, martial law troops confronted citizens right before the mass shooting in front of the former Jeonnam Provincial Office. Capture of the Defense Security Command photo album

Reporter Kim Yong-hee [email protected]