Social Affairs
S. Korea commemorates democracy movement amid song quarrel
May 18, 2016
South Korea hosted an official ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of a key popular uprising that played an instrumental part in transforming the country into a liberal democracy, amid on-going squabbles over the status of a controversial song used at the event.On May 18, 1980, more than 200,000 citizens of Gwangju, 329 kilometers south of Seoul, rose up against the military junta led by Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who took power following the turmoil left by the assassination of then-President Park C