The commemoration of the Gwangju Uprising: of the remnants in the nation states' historical memory

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes This article is drastically modified from the original Japanese version published as a part of The Memories of Law and Violence – the Historical Experience in East Asia 法と暴力の記憶ー東アジアの歴史経験 (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press) in 2007. All the testimonies and the statements by the government or the President about the incident cited below are from the website of 5.18 Institution at Chunnam University, http://altair.chonnam.ac.kr/~cnu518/board518/main/main.htm (accessed 27 May 2011) except one to which special reference is made, and are translated from Korean by the author. According to the report by Arendt, Eichmann, who was a Nazi executive officer in concentrate camp, said that he was guilty not before the court of Jerusalem but only in front of God. See Sturgeon (2006) Sturgeon, William D. 2006. Japan's Yasukuni Shrine: Place of Peace or Place of Conflict? Regional Politics of History and Memory in East Asia Florida Dissertation.Com [Google Scholar]. They include the Seoul National Cemetery, the Daejeon National Cemetery, the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, the National Cemetery for the April 19th Revolution in Seoul, and the National Cemetery for the May 18th Democratic Uprising in Gwangju. The commemorational speech by President Roh Moo-hyun at the 23rd anniversary of the Gwangju 18th May Democratic Uprising in 2003 (The Presidential Secretariat 2006a The Presidential Secretariat 대통령 비서실 (ed.) (2006a) Collection of Speeches by the President Roh Moo-hyun Vol. 1 노무현 대통령 연설집 1권, Seoul: The Presidential Secretariat 대통령 비서실 [Google Scholar]: 58). The commemorational speech by President Roh Moo-hyun at the 24th anniversary of the Gwangju 18th May Democratic Uprising in 2004 (The Presidential Secretariat 2006b The Presidential Secretariat 대통령 비서실 (ed.) (2006b) Collection of Speeches by the President Roh Moo-hyun Vol. 2 노무현 대통령 연설집 2권, Seoul: The Presidential Secretariat 대통령 비서실 [Google Scholar]: 66). Additional informationNotes on contributorsHang KimContact address: Institute of Korean Studies, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Korea. Email: kimhang@yonsei.ac.kr