One of the issues that the martial law forces have sensitively distorted over the situation at the time of May 18 is the first firing situation. Citizens have always testified of the first firing from an armored wheeled vehicle, but the new military has denied it. It was said that armored vehicles had only been operated by track type. The photo released by the NIS today (5th) confirmed once again that the claim of the martial law forces was forced.
This is reporter Lee Geun-pyeong.
[기자]
This is a photo of the Gwangju Democratization Movement provided by the National Intelligence Service to the 5·18 Fact-Finding Investigation Committee.
An armored vehicle stands out at the intersection with martial law forces.
The wheel is not a track type, but a wheel type that looks like a wheel.
The photograph confirms that the martial law forces also used armored wheeled vehicles at the time.
The shape of the wheel is important because it is a key piece of evidence to refute the martial law forces’ compelling claims.
The Fact-Investigation Committee and other organizations related to the 5 18 and citizens have stated that the first firing occurred in a wheeled armored vehicle, and all but the armored vehicle were of track type, but the martial law forces have denied this.
A statement that the initial firing was made on an armored wheeled vehicle was confirmed in other records, but the new military did not admit it.
The first gun boxer, Kim Young-chan, a senior at the time of Jodaebu high school, and the medical staff who treated him testified that “I saw an armored car standing on one wheel in India.”
In addition, an oral testimony was found in the literature of the Chonnam National University’s 5·18 Research Institute that “a citizen lit the crest and threw it at the wheel of an armored car, but it did not catch fire.”
The release of this photo broke the claims of the new military at the time.
[이재의/5·18기념재단 비상임연구위원 : 그동안 전두환 측에선 차륜형 장갑차를 계엄군이 운용한 바 없다고 주장해 왔는데 그걸 무너뜨리는 내용이 사진으로 확인됐다는 점에서 큰 의미가 있습니다.]
Other photographs released by the NIS show students who participated in the protests putting their heads on the ground or being arrested.
(Video design: Bae Jang-keun·Kim Ji-yeon / Video graphic: Kim Ji-hye)