계엄군의 광주 봉쇄

Abstract

This paper is written for proving the background and purpose of the military blocking Gwangju city by the Martial Law Forces. Some problems were dealt in this paper: When did the blocking operation begin? Who were the motivators of the operation? How had the psychological warfare been conducted before the bloody retake of the Provincial Hall? The third Special Warfare brigade set to fire fiercely in the night of 20th May in front of Gwangju station. More than eleven persons were hurted and killed. The Martial Law Forces Commander, backed by the military hard liners Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae woo, declared the self defensive right to hide the cruel crimes by the third brigade. This declaration considered as an order to fire. At the same time the blocking the city operation began to sack the armed citizens. The military, in charge of blocking the city, were three Brigades of Special Warfare Troops, the 20th Division and the 31st Division. The purpose of blocking the city was to defeat the armed citizens by cutting off the daily food and goods. The soldiers not only blocked the main roads to outskirts but also shut off all the telephones connected to outer world, to conceal what had happened in the city. And they deployed secret psychological warfare agents in the Provincial Hall to destroy the resistance of the armed citizens. The army postponed the D-day of crack down the Provincial Hall by May 27. The reason was for preparation of the military cooperation with the US army. While the US aircraft carrier Coral Sea and two Early Warning Aircrafts watching the North Korea, the Martial Law Forces succeeded in occupying the Provincial Hall. Blocking the city operation resulted many victims shot by guns, but the Judicial authority failed to designate the generals who ordered to fire. The blocking, lasted 5 days long, had a subsidiary psychological warfare to separate the armed resistors from the non-armed citizens, and was a preparatory operation to destroy them in the Provincial Hall.