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Raindrops fall on the gravestone of Park Hyeon-suk, who died at the hands of martial law forces during the suppression of the popular democratic uprising in Gwangju in 1980, on Tuesday, when news of Chun Doo-hwan’s death broke. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

The day that Chun Doo-hwan, leader of the military coup on Dec. 12, 1979, and bloody suppressor of the popular uprising in Gwangju in May 1980, died, raindrops ran down the gravestone of Park Hyeon-suk in the old cemetery in Mangwol neighborhood — a site where many of those who died in the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising were interred.

Park was in her final year of high school at the time of the mass uprising, during which she volunteered to clean the bodies of the deceased. She was killed by indiscriminate shelling from martial law forces while she and armed citizens made their way to neighboring Hwasun County to retrieve more caskets, which were in short supply in Gwangju.

On Tuesday, raindrops fall on the Mangwol cemetery gravestone of Bang Gwang-beom, who died at the age of 13 when he was shot by martial law forces while swimming in a nearby reservoir. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

When news of Chun’s death broke Tuesday morning, the May 18th Bereaved Family Association, along with associations of those injured and incarcerated during the Gwangju Uprising, and the May 18 Memorial Foundation convened for a joint press conference at the May 18 Cultural Center in Gwangju’s Seo District.

At the press conference, the groups gave a statement, saying, “Though Chun Doo-hwan may have died, the truth of May 18, 1980, has not been lost,” continuing that, “We will absolutely hold the instigators of the massacre in May to account, make clear as day the criminal offenses of Chun Doo-hwan, a traitor without equal, and set the historical record straight.”

We have gathered some photos from the old Mangwol cemetery in Gwangju’s Buk District from Tuesday.

A banner made by a memorial association for Pyo Jeong-du, an activist killed during the massacre, hangs at the Mangwol cemetery in Gwangju on Tuesday. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

A bullet hole is displayed on the first floor of the May 18 Democratic Uprising Archives in Gwangju’s Dong District. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

On Tuesday, raindrops fall on a placard at the entrance to the Mangwol cemetery erected by an association of people from Gwangju and South Jeolla Province who took part in democracy protests. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

Rain drizzles on the Mangwol ceremony, the burial site of many of those killed during the 1980 massacre, on Tuesday, the day Chun Doo-hwan died. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

By Kim Hye-yun, staff reporter

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