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Kwangju Diary: Beyond Death, Beyong the Darkness of the Age

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First publication in English of this eyewitness account of the 1980 civilian uprising against Chun Doo Hwan's military coup. First published in Korean in 1985 under the name of dissident novelist Hwang Sog-yong, this revised edition includes an introduction by Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago, and an essay by investigative journalist Tim Shorrock on U.S. involvement in the repression. This book sold more than one million copies in Asia in its Korean and Japanese editions.

170 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1999

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Flor Méndez.
Author 1 book122 followers
March 10, 2024
Tristísima crónica desde el punto de vista de los rebeldes de la masacre de Gwangju.

Leí este libro para la diplomatura y me alegra muchísimo haberlo hecho. Si bien se podría discutir el hecho de que lo narrado está influenciado por los intereses de quienes escriben, así como pasaría con una crónica escrita por Chun Doohwan o alguien a su cargo, la realidad es que quien poco tiene que ocultar no busca aislar a una ciudad del mundo, perseguir a la prensa nacional e internacional para que no reporte lo que ocurre e incurrir en declaraciones explosivas sobre supuestos subversivos arengados por espías norcoreanos.

Tampoco miente diciendo que los muertos totales son 144 cuando su ejército mataba hasta a nenes de primaria cuando los veía en la calle, a quienes buscaban ayudar a los heridos cuando eran baleados por los militares o a los viejos y viejas que daban comida a aquellos que defendían su ciudad de una fuerza sanguinaria bajo el mando de un dictador.

Súper recomendable (aunque muy triste).
132 reviews
September 21, 2008
Dark stuff. Remember Terry Anderson? The guy who was kidnapped in Lebananon?
Well, he got the "plum" assignment for covering the Gwangju Massacre in 1980 so well. What did he do?
First he went and counted the dead. He barely slept and had to bicycle to all the places. Power was out and the government was not in a kindly mood toward reporters.
It's horrible to think that the United States was complicit in all this. We talk the talk about democracy, but that's about it.
There are some powerful and disturbing stories here. They don't end well.
Profile Image for Daniel Burton-Rose.
Author 12 books25 followers
September 7, 2011
The 1999 WTO protests in Seattle if we had pushed further and managed to take the city instead of just downtown...
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