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 transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...

movement.

Biography

Yoon Sang-won was born in

Gwangsan District Gwangsan District (Gwangsan-gu) is a district, similar to a ward, situated in the city of 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 ...

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

, 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 satellit ...

in the 1970s. Opposed to the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

under

Park Chung Hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...

, 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 (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

led by

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean Republic of Korea Army, army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected Political strongman, strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah ...

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

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

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 June Democratic Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to June 29, 1987. The demonstrations force ...

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 public". Thu ...

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