Yoon Sang-won (; 19 August 195027 May 1980) was a South Korean activist and spokesperson for the citizen's militia during the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. Yoon was killed on the last day of the uprising and has since become a symbol in South Korea as a martyr for the

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

movement.

Biography

Yoon Sang-won was born in

Gwangsan District Gwangsan District () is a district, similar to a ward, situated in Gwangju, South Korea. The total population of the district, as of September 2004, is 295,294, and the population density of the district is 1,085 per 1 km. Its area is about ...

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

, and attended

Chonnam National University Chonnam National University (CNU; ) is one of ten Flagship Korean National Universities located in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, South Korea. In March 2006, Yeosu National University merged with Chonnam National University to become a satell ...

in the 1970s. Opposed to the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

under

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

, Yoon quit his job at a bank in 1978 to focus on democracy activism. Yoon worked on organizing labour groups and helped form the National Democratic Workers' League on May 1, 1980. On May 18 of that year, a citizen's uprising against military rule and

Coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

led by

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

broke out in Gwangju and Yoon quickly became the leading spokesperson of the organizing Democratic Struggle Committee. As

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

forces violently suppressed the uprising, the armed resistance intensified. Yoon and the remaining militia members took up residence in the main building of the which was turned into the ''de facto'' headquarters of the resistance. The protesters were able to fortify and hold the building until May 27 when it was stormed by martial law forces. Yoon was killed in the early morning making a last stand to defend the building. The Gwangju Democratization Movement ended that day, but it was seen as a precursor to the 1987

June Struggle The June Democratic Struggle (), also known as the June Democracy Movement and the June Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ru ...

that led to the country's first free and democratic elections later that year within the wider democratization movement known as

minjung ''Minjung'' () is a Korean word that combines the two hanja characters ''min'' () and ''jung'' (). ''Min'' is from ''inmin'' (), which may be translated as "the people", and ''jung'' is from ''daejung'' (), which may be translated as "the publi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoon, Sang-won 1950 births 1980 deaths Gwangju Uprising People shot dead by law enforcement officers in South Korea People from Gwangju People from Gwangsan District South Korean democracy activists