The dawn broadcast ‘listening record’ from the last day of 5·18 has been found··· discovered in documents from Gwangju City and the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office - 경향신문

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“‘At 3 a.m., a female student broadcast that the martial law forces were entering the city’ is written”

“‘They went on emergency alert to kill students. Please come to Geumnam-ro’”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Old Jeonnam Provincial Office Restoration Promotion Team completed restoration work on the provincial office, installed exhibition halls, and began a trial run on the 28th of last month. Yonhap News

Dawn on May 27, 1980, recorded as the last day of the May 18 Democratization Movement. To Gwangju citizens who were holding their breath under the martial law forces violent suppression, a woman urgently announced the situation at the South Jeolla Provincial Office via a broadcast. For the first time, a document has been identified that directly listened to and recorded this ‘last broadcast,’ which spread across the city through the large speakers on the provincial office roof.

As of the 16th, a Kyunghyang Shinmun investigation found that records containing the contents of the ‘last broadcast’ aired at the time were confirmed at Gwangju City and the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office. Until now, because no document that precisely recorded the broadcast content had been found, the details had been conveyed only through ‘testimony’ and the like.

At the time, Gwangju City Hall was in Gyerim-dong, 1.7㎞ from the provincial office, and the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office was in Jisan-dong, 1.5㎞ away. These institutions prepared daily situation reports during 5·18 and meticulously recorded what they had ascertained on their own, and the contents of the ‘last broadcast’ were also included and preserved there as records.

Looking at Gwangju City’s ‘May 27 situation report,’ what the drafter heard from the broadcast is recorded in comparatively detailed form. The document states, ‘At 3 a.m., in front of the provincial office, a female student made a broadcast.’ As for the broadcast content, it is recorded as: “Citizens of Gwangju! The martial law forces are now entering the city and have gone on emergency alert to kill students. Citizens, please all come out to Geumnam-ro.”

The Gwangju City situation report document dated May 27, 1980, unearthed by the Kyunghyang Shinmun. It records in comparatively detailed form the broadcast from the South Jeolla Provincial Office at 3 a.m., when the martial law forces began their armed suppression.

The Gwangju District Prosecutors Office situation report prepared the same day states: “At 3 a.m., along with gunfire in the city, there was an appeal broadcast for about 30 minutes by a woman, as a street broadcast by rioters, saying ‘This is an emergency. The martial law forces have broken their promise and are advancing.’ Firefights continue.”

Although the two institutions were located in different places, they agree on the fact that ‘at 3 a.m., there was a broadcast by a woman from the provincial office,’ and the main point of the broadcast likewise conveyed the same message that ‘the martial law forces are entering.’

The Gwangju District Prosecutors Office situation report from the time, which notes what was heard from and recorded about the last dawn broadcast at the South Jeolla Provincial Office in the early hours of May 27, 1980. The time and content are almost the same as in Gwangju City’s report.

It appears these documents described the broadcast location as ‘in front of the provincial office’ or as a ‘street broadcast’ because they did not see the situation directly and only heard it. According to records of investigations and trials by the Martial Law Command conducted right after 5·18 and the 2014 findings of the May 18 Memorial Foundation, the ‘last broadcast’ was transmitted from the first-floor broadcast room of the provincial office.

The voice was identified as Park Young-soon (67), then a second-year university student. She was seized by the martial law forces immediately after the broadcast and was sentenced to one year in prison, and in 2015 she was acquitted in a retrial.

The ‘last broadcast’ also appears in the 2007 film <Splendid Holiday>, in which the female lead makes a street broadcast in a deserted city center in a plaintive voice. The broadcast as depicted in the movie is: “We will fight to the end. Dear citizens of Gwangju, please do not forget us. Please remember us.”

The broadcast room on the first floor of the former South Jeolla Provincial Office main building, restored to reflect where the last broadcast during 5·18 in 1980 took place. The video of the broadcast is described as being based on the actual content and testimony, but it differs from the records. Kang Hyun-Seok.

At the recently restored and reopened former South Jeolla Provincial Office, which reflects the 5.18 situation, one can also watch a one-minute video of this ‘last broadcast’ in the broadcast room restored on the first floor of the main building. The Restoration Promotion Team explains that it ‘was reconstructed based on the actual broadcast content and testimony from the broadcast room during 5·18.’

However, because the broadcast content had not actually been verified over the years, there are some differences from the actual content recorded at Gwangju City Hall and elsewhere. The broadcast content re-created at the provincial office is similar to what appears in the film <Splendid Holiday>.

Cha Young-gui, lead researcher on 5·18 at the Sogang International Center for Korean Studies at Sogang University, said, “The situation reports by Gwangju City and the prosecution, which directly recorded what they heard from the broadcast at the time, should be regarded as the records closest to the actual broadcast content,” adding, “Exhibiting such documents together is what reveals the factuality of the event.”

The South Jeolla Provincial Office Restoration Promotion Team stated, “In the process of composing the exhibition content, we were not aware that there were documents that had listened to and recorded the actual broadcast content,” and added, “We will find (the records) again and make up for the shortcomings.”