Chun-bae Kim, the’May 18 Merit in March’, served as a member of the Gwangju YMCA in May 1980 as a member of the Citizens’ Probationary Countermeasures Committee and devoted himself to a peaceful resolution of the situation. Provided by Gwangju YMCA
The late Gwangju YMCA (YMCA) director Kim Cheon-bae (1916-88), who faced the martial law army’s tank during the May 18 People’s Uprising, was selected as the’May 18 Democratic Merit in March’. The National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery Management Office introduced on the 2nd that “the deceased participated in the Citizens’ Probationary Countermeasure Committee in May 1980, when he was 64 years old, with the late lawyer Hong Nam-soon, the late Elder Lee Seong-hak, and the late Father Seong-ryong Kim.” After attending the Kansai Academy in Japan and the Faculty of Theology at Yale University in the United States, he took over an interview to inform foreign media about the facts of Gwangju based on his fluent foreign language skills. On May 26, 1980, at 5 am on May 26, 1980, a day before the martial law force’s operation to suppress Gwangju, he lay lying on the road in Nongseong-dong, Seo-gu, and blocked the entry of armored vehicle (tank) units waiting at the military training command. He was one of the 17 people on the so-called’death march’.
Material photo” alt=”In the dawn of May 26, 1980, a tank unit of the Martial Law Army is entering the Nongseong-dong area of Gwangju. <한겨레> Material photo” />
In the dawn of May 26, 1980, a tank unit of the Martial Law Army is entering the Nongseong-dong area of Gwangju. Material photo
Material photo” alt=”At the dawn of May 26, 1980, 17 citizen countermeasures interns, including the late director Kim Cheon-bae (third left) and Father Kim Seong-ryong (far left), walk in a row from Geumnam-do to Nongseong-dong in Gwangju, confronting the armored vehicle unit of the martial law army. <한겨레> Material photo” />
At the dawn of May 26, 1980, 17 citizen countermeasures interns, including the late director Kim Cheon-bae (third left) and Father Kim Seong-ryong (far left), walk in a row from Geumnam-do to Nongseong-dong in Gwangju, confronting the armored vehicle unit of the martial law army. Material photo
He was wanted for incubation of the civil war (a crime of agreeing to the civil war without any supervision) and violating the martial law because he represented Director Kim for the protest leadership. He was arrested in Jeongeup, Jeollabuk-do in September 1981 while fleeing. For the next 27 days, he suffered torture and violent investigations, and in 1982 he was sentenced to 1 year in prison and 2 years probation. He died in March 1988 at the age of 72 from the aftereffects of torture. By Kim Yong-hee, staff reporter