Gwangju uprising
May 18, 1980
Students in the South Korean city of Gwangju rose against the military government of Chun Doo-hwan, who had seized power a few months earlier. Paratroopers responded with clubs and live ammunition. Over a week at least two hundred civilians died, perhaps many more. The massacre would eventually help birth South Korean democracy a decade later.
In context
Also in 1980 (6 other events on record)
- Solidarity strike at Gdansk · Europe · Politics
- Iran-Iraq War begins · Middle East · War
- Mount St. Helens erupts · North America · Disaster
- John Lennon shot · North America · Culture
- Four American nuns killed in El Salvador · North America · Religion
- Rubik's Cube and Pac-Man launch · Europe · Culture
Before and after in East Asia
- Before: December 1978: Deng launches Chinese reform
- After: 1982: CD released
Before and after in Politics
Era
Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources