{"id":1177,"date":"2025-02-16T03:27:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T03:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?p=1177"},"modified":"2025-02-16T03:27:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T03:27:43","slug":"the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The May 15, 1980 Gwangju uprising and massacre where thousands were killed by the military regime that declared martial law, backed by the U.S., is <strong>vivid<\/strong> in the minds of Koreans today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, tens of thousands of people protested for and against the dismissal of Yoon for his December 2024 martial law attempt <strong>in that very Gwangju plaza of the 1980 uprising<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protest yesterday was initiated at first by the far-right, calling for a mass Christian prayer event in support of Yoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those pro Yoon far-right, pro-militarist, anti-communist, anti-immigrant protesters were met with those fighting for democracy and against fascism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police separated the for and against protests so they would not come into contact with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg?ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The history of the 1980 Gwangju uprisings and massacres was suppressed for decades by the government itself due to its own role. It is only because of people\u2019s movements to remember and document that the truth is now widely shared and commemorated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, we are witnessing far-right jingoism that distorts national pride into a dangerous idea of \u201cpurity\u201d through despoiling Gwangju\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gwangju is a place where <strong>democracy fought against far-right authoritarianism<\/strong>. The far-right trying to use it as their speaking ground is treachery and desecration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a saying, \u201c<strong>Korean democracy grows through the blood of Gwangju<\/strong>,\u201d \ud55c\uad6d \ubbfc\uc8fc\uc8fc\uc758\ub294 \uad11\uc8fc\uc758 \ud53c\ub97c \uba39\uace0 \uc790\ub780\ub2e4, which refers to how the democracy struggles of the Gwangju 1980 uprisings are the <strong>roots<\/strong> of Korea today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I cannot even being to express how profound the history of Gwangju is in our entire understanding of resistance in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>T<strong>he very real struggle for democracy that is happening in Korea today <\/strong>is at once breathtaking and a reminder of what we are truly fighting for. Remember true history. Remember Gwangju. <strong>We fight for our ancestors that wanted to free our people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The May 15, 1980 Gwangju uprising and massacre where thousands were killed by the military regime that declared martial law, backed by the U.S., is&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":null,"activitypub_content_visibility":"quiet_public","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[280],"tags":[148,279,3],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-korean-resistance","tag-gwangju","tag-impeachment","tag-korea","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The May 15, 1980 Gwangju uprising and massacre where thousands were killed by the military regime that declared martial law, backed by the U.S., is&#8230;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"YK Hong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\"},\"headline\":\"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substackcdn.com\\\/image\\\/fetch\\\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\\\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"gwangju\",\"impeachment\",\"korea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Korean Resistance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substackcdn.com\\\/image\\\/fetch\\\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\\\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substackcdn.com\\\/image\\\/fetch\\\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\\\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/substackcdn.com\\\/image\\\/fetch\\\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\\\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/\",\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"description\":\"Anti-Oppression + Tech Justice\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59\",\"name\":\"YK Hong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"YK Hong\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ykhong.com\\\/writes\\\/author\\\/blog\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong","og_description":"The May 15, 1980 Gwangju uprising and massacre where thousands were killed by the military regime that declared martial law, backed by the U.S., is&#8230;","og_url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/","og_site_name":"YK Hong","article_published_time":"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"YK Hong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"YK Hong","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/"},"author":{"name":"YK Hong","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59"},"headline":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings","datePublished":"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/"},"wordCount":300,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg","keywords":["gwangju","impeachment","korea"],"articleSection":["Korean Resistance"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/","url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/","name":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings - YK Hong","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-02-16T03:27:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79ef2b77-d533-4bb4-bd44-1798e307f223_1206x887.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-ghost-of-the-gwangju-uprisings\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Ghost of the Gwangju Uprisings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/","name":"YK Hong","description":"Anti-Oppression + Tech Justice","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/#\/schema\/person\/63b3947dbd600c6852806eb0df10ff59","name":"YK Hong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a15b441b4016831a8613d616f5f3001a5f85740f89911c468ca141046ce847c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"YK Hong"},"url":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/author\/blog\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1179,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions\/1179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}