Remembering the First Victim of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising
Creatrip Team
20 days ago
I attended an academic conference at Jeonbuk National University, where I visited a memorial space for Lee Se-jong, the first casualty of the May 18, 1980 Gwangju democratization movement. He died when martial law forces entered the campus during the early hours of the 18th. Later, I joined guided evening walking tours in Jeonju (running daily at 7 PM until Oct 11) that start from the Gyeonggijeon ticket booth and are led by cultural tourism guides; the routes alternate between two courses. One route I took passed Gyeonggijeon (which houses the portrait of King Taejo Yi Seong-gye), Jeondong Cathedral, Pungnammun, the Wedding Street, and the restored Jeolla Government Office (Jeollagamyeong). At Jeollagamyeong, restored buildings like Seonhwadang and Gwanpungnu were lit beautifully at night; the site also preserves traces of fan-making (Seonjachung) for which Jeonju was once famous. The government office displays memorial stones for provincial governors, and local folklore ties the site to millenarian hopes of renewal—from the 1894 Donghak Peasant Revolution to the 1980 resistance—framing both as efforts to open a new era.
