Images of Korea

This famed image is from the Gwangju Uprising in late May of 1980. Students and citizens rose up in protest to the Chun military dictatorship and took control of the city, only to be crushed by the South Korean Army soon after they took up arms. This uprising to widely accepted as one of the most violent, but successful democratic movements of post-occupation Korea.

From GOPF,

"The photo is of real estate agent Choi Yang-min, now 54, who lives in Kwangju. On May 10, 1980, at the age of 26, he got married in Mokpo. On May 16 he came to Kwangju to visit his wife’s family, and met relatives there the next day. He was staying at a motel near Geumnamro, the street that would be central to the uprising. His sister, Yang-mi, then 24, was also visiting.

On May 18 he was resting in his motel when he heard slogans calling for the end of martial law being shouted outside. He saw people breaking apart sidewalk blocks and carrying them away, and thinking something must be happening, helped them. Then he went to a restaurant, which was surrounded by paratroopers. He finished his lunch quickly and went outside, where four soldiers attacked him with their clubs. He was bleeding from his head and his sister rushed out to help him and try to stop the bleeding. He was taken by the 31st Division but with the help of a friend was set free. He needed 27 stitches"

Images of Korea

This is an image I found in the depths of the web archives. It's an image of Korea circa 1910. It is believed to have been taken months before the Japanese occupation that would last 35 years began.



The picture is supposedly taken within 10km of where we live now and from the main street in our neighborhood, I can see this mountain range. I think it's amazing how far Korea has come from those days.

**Update** In response to a "What am I looking at?" in the comments, I should make clear that this is an old Korean village. You can see the thatched roofs and the small stream running though the center and running off the bottom left of the page.

Images of Korea

I'm starting a weekly "Images of Korea: Past and Present" on here. Really, it's something that will force me to learn more Korean history, while having fun writing about it. Whatever my reasons may be, I will use them to show contrast and give little bits and pieces of modern history and perspective, rather than writing a lecture on here.



A Korean girl and her brother in front of a M-26 Tank. I can't say where in Korea this was taken, but I can say that people still hold their children in this manner.


Side Note: 고's grandmother lived through this and through most of the Japanese occupation. I'm hoping to talk to her and get her personal account, but we'll see how that goes.

Brief History of the tank in Korea:

When the US Army went to war with Korea, it found itself unprepared to fight and win the first and succeeding battles. It is argued that the unpreparedness was due to massive underfunding and poorly managed demobilization after World War II.

On the eve of the Korean War, the nation's defense establishment ignored (Surprised?) much of what had been learned about the conventional tactics that had been successfully demonstrated in World War II, and instead had begun to depend on nuclear weapons delivered by air power. Like EVERY war, things a different than the one before and the Korean War was no exception.

This particular tank, the M-26, was the principal tank used in the Korean War. It was developed after the popular M4 Sherman tank had started to be upstaged in battle by the German and Soviet tanks towards the end of WWII. The tanks proved superior to the lighter Soviet-provided North Korea's tanks.