PHOTOGRAPHS DURING GWANGJU UPRISING

[Anchor Lead]

The martial law army firing at civilians demanding democracy was a painful tragedy in modern Korean history. Foreign journalists played a big part in informing the world about the atrocities that took place in Gwangju during the democratic movement in May 1980. Recently, photographs of the final combat between the martial law army and the civilian unit shot by a foreign journalist were released to the public for the first time. The photos show the horror inside the provincial office building immediately after the army raided it.

[Pkg]

The second floor corridor of the former Jeollanam-do provicinal government building. Two young men are found dead on the floor. Soldiers carry their bodies on a ping pong table and take them out of the provincial office building. The two photographed young men are Ahn Jong-pil and Moon Jae-hak, both 10th graders at Gwangju Commercial High School at the time. Another man’s body is found among the scattered chairs. This is Kim Dong-su who fought against the martial law army until he took his last breath. This is the horror discovered immediately after the martial law army put down the civilian force in the provincial government office building on May 27, 1980.The person behind these black and white photos was Norman Thorpe, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal Asia’s Seoul office. He was the first journalist to cover the inside of the building after the raid. Some 200 photographs shot by Norman Thorpe are now released to the public for the first time in 41 years. Even the victims’ family members had not seen these pictures before.

[Soundbite] Kim Dong-chae(Brother of the late Kim Dong-su) : "If I had seen those pictures early on, I don’t think I could be standing here with a sane mind today."

Norman Thorpe documented the atrocities in Gwangju from May 23rd to 27th, 1980. He took photos of ten out of 17 victims who died in the final clash at the provincial building. These photographs clearly show where they had been killed, thus providing key clues in to finding out the truth about those fateful days.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-eui(Researcher, The May 18 Memorial Foundation) : "They have been distorting the truth about the last raid of the provincial building.　These are important pictures that clearly show that their stories were fabricated."

A special exhibit featuring Norman Thorpe’s previously unreleased photos is underway at the annex building of the former Jeollanam-do provincial office. It will be up for public viewing until the end of July.