The Kwangju Uprising: A Miracle of Asian Democracy as Seen by the Western and the Korean Press

Download or read book The Kwangju Uprising: A Miracle of Asian Democracy as Seen by the Western and the Korean Press written by Henry Scott Stokes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kwangju Uprising that occurred in May 1980 is burned into the minds of South Koreans in much the same way that Tiananmen is burned into the minds of contemporary Chinese. As the world watched in horror following the assassination of President Park Chung Hee, student protesters were brutally suppressed by the military and police led by strongman Chun Doo Hwan. Kim Dae Jung, the current president of South Korea, was imprisoned and sentenced to death during this period. This book recreates those earth-shaking events through eyewitness reports of leading Western correspondents on the scene as well as Korean participants and observers. Photographs, detailed street maps, and dramatic woodblock prints further illuminate the day-to-day drama to keep this atrocity alive in the conscience of the world.