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A petition for the US government to disclose confidential records on the Gwangju Democratization Movement posted on the White House petition site We the People on May 29.

Choi Gyung-hwan, a lawmaker with the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP), is petitioning the White House to disclose confidential documents related to the events of the Gwangju Democratization Movement of May 18, 1980.

In a press release on June 3, Choi said, “With most of the domestic records on May 18 distorted or fabricated, we look forward to the US government’s confidential documents from 39 years ago offering a key to finding out the truth of May 18.”

“May 18” is often a term used to refer to the Gwangju Democratization Movement in general.

“I hope that the US government will provide copies of its confidential documents on May 18 in South Korea that were drafted between 1979 and 1980,” he said.

On May 19, Choi submitted an English-language petition titled “Request to Disclose and Provide US Government Documents on Korea’s May 18 Democratization Movement in 1980” to the White House petition site We the People (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/request-disclose-and-provide-us-government-documents-koreas-may-18-democratization-movement-1980). Similar to South Korea’s Blue House petition board, We the People is a site where the White House replies to petitions that have collected more than 100,000 signatures within a month of their posting. The petition had 1,041 signatures as of 5:10 pm on June 3, with a deadline on June 28.

In the petition, Choi identified himself as “a member of the National Assembly of Korea” and said his petition “requests that the White House, the Department of Defense, the CIA, the US Department of State, etc. disclose confidential documents on the May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju, Korea in 1980 and provide them to the Korean government.”

He goes to describe the movement as a “painful episode in history” in which “the citizens of Gwangju, fighting to defend democracy against a new military coup unlawfully trying to seize power, were brutally killed by martial law forces.”

“Even now, 39 years after the movement, the truth about the May 18 Movement has not been completely clarified,” the petition continues.

“I hope that the US government will disclose the documents so that the Republic of Korea can protect the value of its democracy,” it concludes.

Choi noted the precedent of the Barack Obama administration’s decision in 2016 to “support an investigation by providing the Argentine government with confidential documents containing information about efforts to protect the [Jorge] Videla military government,” as well as the Donald Trump administration “providing Argentina with related documents in April of last year.”

“I hope this White House petition will help in negotiations between the South Korean and US governments and the US government’s decision to disclose the information, and I hope the US government will consider its precedents with other countries and make the decision to disclose the confidential documents related to May 18,” he said.

Choi’s remark about “negotiations between the South Korean and US government” was a reference to a recent statement by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon. When asked by lawmaker Chun Jung-bae whether the South Korean government intended to request that the US government provide declassified information on May 18, Lee replied, “We will consider possible approaches at the administration level and discuss the matter with the US through diplomatic channels.”

Choi also called on South Koreans and Koreans living overseas to “actively participate so that the truth of May 18 can be revealed after remaining concealed for 39 years.”

By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]