The 1980s massacre was apologized for by the grandson of former South Korean military ruler Chun Doo-hwan on Friday, a symbolic and momentous action praised by victims and observers.
The 1980 crackdown on a democracy uprising, which according to official estimates resulted in at least nearly 200 deaths, was visited by Chun Woo-won, 27, the first member of his family to attend the Gwangju cemetery and express regret.
New York-based Chun has attracted widespread media coverage in South Korea for accusing his relatives of corruption in his Youtube and Instagram livestreams.
He claimed during one social media broadcast to have used illegal drugs, that he was detained when he arrived in Seoul on Tuesday, but later freed.
Chun was seen in TV footage on Friday comforting the families of massacre victims.
“I give my sincere apologies. I am sorry,” he said in South Korea’s Gwangju, looking visibly emotional.
“As a family member, I acknowledge that my grandfather Chun Doo-hwan was a sinner and slaughterer who committed such a great crime,” he said at a separate event.
“The citizens of Gwangju, who overcame fear in the midst of military dictatorship and stood against it with courage are heroes and truly the light and salt of our country.”
At Gwangju, Chun Doo-army hwan’s put down protesters shortly after taking control in a military coup in 1979.
Although he was found guilty of treason in connection with the incident in 1996, his sentence was mitigated thanks to a presidential pardon, and he never acknowledged his involvement in or expressed regret for the killings.
Chun Doo-military hwan’s administration asserted at the time of the killing that the protests were a rebellion headed by followers of the then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung and “agitators” sympathetic to North Korea.
Even as recently as 2019, a few extreme-right MPs asserted that Pyongyang was supporting the uprising.
But now “there is a consensus that the whole thing was a horrible crime by an illegitimate military government,” Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
“Now this consensus is being joined even by a part of the perpetrator’s own family. This is significant, and symbolic.”
Many family members welcomed the younger Chun’s visit, with some giving him a hug.
“Thank you for coming,” one told him.
“Be brave,” said another.
“Chun Doo-hwan died without ever apologising, so someone in his family should have done it in a proper manner a long time ago,” Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University told AFP.
“His grandson’s apology today showed that historical tragedies always deserve justice no matter how much time has passed.”