Report from Kwangju, south Korea
Tribunal: U.S. crimes against Korean people
By Sharon Ayling
Kwangju, south Korea
On May 18, after five hours of eyewitness and expert
testimony and the presentation of documented evidence, the
Kwangju People's Tribunal found the U.S. government guilty of
crimes against the people of Korea.
The guilty verdict was related to U.S. involvement in the
murderous suppression of a people's uprising here 22 years
ago.
On May 18, 1980, the people of Kwangju rebelled against a
violent assault on students who were protesting the former
military regime's declaration of martial law.
Students and workers joined together. With massive street
demonstrations and a quickly formed people's militia, they
battled police and Korean Special Forces troops, managing to
seize control of the city for several days.
At least 2,000 people were killed in these battles and when
the military brutally retook control of the city on May 27.
The Tribunal found 10 U.S. government officials at the time
guilty of complicity in this suppression. They include
President Jimmy Carter, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea William
Gleysteen, and U.S.-Korean Combined Forces Commander in South
Korea John Wickham.
The most damaging evidence of U.S. criminal involvement was
Wickham's decision to release four divisions of south Korean
army special forces troops for deployment in Kwangju. This
approval was required because the south Korean army is under
direct U.S. command.
Recently declassified documents showed that U.S. officials
said the decision to release the troops should be kept quiet
because it would fuel anti-U.S. sentiment if it became known.
The United States also ordered a naval carrier to south Korea
from the Philippines.
U.S. soldier tells of alert
Ellen Barfield, a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed at
Camp Humphreys in Korea during the Kwangju events, submitted
videotaped testimony. She said that all 40,000 U.S. troops
occupying Korea at the time were put on high alert. This meant
that all routine was suspended. For two to three days they
received riot training instead. This mostly consisted of
classroom discussion about what to do when face-to-face with
people rebelling in the streets.
She also expressed the hope that the truth about the U.S.
role in Kwangju would come out. And she commended the citizens
of Kwangju for their efforts.
The Carter cabinet set up a special task force on the Korea
crisis, code-naming it "Cherokee." Messages from this task
force to the U.S. Embassy expressed deep fear of a
revolutionary situation in Korea like the one that had just
shaken the U.S. grip on Iran. They called the Korean student
struggle a challenge to law and order.
Publicly, the U.S. government only voiced concern about
Korean stability and security, with no expression of concern
about the deliberate killing of civilians. Washington also
fabricated unspecified "threats" from the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea in the north.
The tribunal was held in Province Hall, a government office
building that was the scene of many battles during the uprising
and where many of the rebels perished in a final stand. A huge
banner in the hall read, "Today we are victims, tomorrow we
will be winners," a quote from the head of the citizens' army
who died in Province Hall with 200 of his compatriots.
More than 300 people attended the one-day tribunal,
including many long-time political prisoners, participants in
the uprising and survivors of the suppression.
The May tribunal here in Kwangju opened with introduction of
the judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and jury. The people's
jury was composed of workers, farmers, religious leaders and
students from all the regions outside Kwangju.
The lead prosecutor explained that this tribunal was
historic for the people of Kwangju because it was the first
time that the role of the U.S. government in suppressing the
Kwangju uprising was being examined. While two former Korean
presidents were found guilty in 1989 of crimes against the
citizens of Kwangju, the crimes of the United States have been
covered up until now.
Tribunal organizers had to put up a struggle just to hold
it. On May 14, the tribunal committee delivered papers to the
U.S. Embassy informing the United States that 10 of its former
officials were being charged with crimes against peace in
relation to the Kwangju suppression, and requesting their
appearance before the tribunal.
A few days later, the organizers received a call from the
Korean National Security Office informing them that Province
Hall could not be used as the venue for the tribunal and
warning that the United States could sue for defamation if the
defendants were found guilty. Local police also called.
While a struggle won the right to use the hall, organizers
were denied the use of a sound system.
Heart-wrenching testimony
Many survivors of the repression came forward to testify
about their suffering at the hand of the special-forces
troops--including indiscriminate bayoneting of demonstrators,
shooting civilians in the head and beating prisoners to
death.
A woman testified that soldiers shot her in the back of the
head at 7 a.m. in front of her home. There was no combat in the
area at the time. She had only gone outside to look for her
7-year-old son.
At the hospital, she was repeatedly interrogated about
whether she was a communist. Her family was interrogated as
well. When her father asked a soldier why he shot at civilians,
he replied that they were told to shoot all Kwangju residents
who were out on the street.
A Buddhist monk testified that he witnessed the killing of
200 citizen soldiers holed up inside the Catholic Center. He
had organized a medical team during the uprising. He was shot
in the back and paralyzed while taking care of injured people
in an ambulance.
After hearing closing remarks and deliberating on the
evidence, the chief jurist--the Rev. Jung-hyun Moon, a Catholic
priest--stepped forward. Moon is a well-known militant against
U.S. occupation who was permanently disabled by riot police at
an anti-U.S. protest.
He read the verdict: The jury found the 10 U.S. officials
guilty on all counts.
The jury verdict also included a list of demands: that the
officials and the United States issue official apologies, pay
just compensation, and release all relevant documents; that
command of Korean troops be transferred from the U.S.
government to south Korea, all U.S. troops be withdrawn and the
SOFA agreement between U.S. and Korea governing GIs be revised
so that Pentagon troops can be held accountable in Korean
courts for their criminal behavior.
The next day, a militant crowd of 10,000 youths outside
Province Hall cheered this verdict and led a triumphant march
throughout the city.
Reprinted from the May 30, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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