민주화운동 40주년, 미 평화봉사단 의 증언<br /><br />Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the South Korea's May 18th Democratic Movement.<br />I had the opportunity to speak to an eyewitness to the horrors that unfolded in May 1980 first hand.<br />Our Choi Won-jong put together the personal account of David Dolinger. Dr. David Dolinger came to South Korea as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in 1978.<br />He was in Gwangju in 1980 where he witnessed the Democratic Movement first hand.<br />Dr. Dolinger still remembers the day of May 21st when he saw a helicopter above his head.<br />"I stood there and just looking through the helicopter trying to figure out what was going on. When I actually grabbed by the Koreans and dragged inside the stores where they said, don't stand out there and they could shoot you."<br />However, this was not the only thing that he witnessed in Gwangju.<br />"In an emergency room, we actually saw X-rays that bullets were penetrating on one person's upper left shoulder and exit wounds were down by the right hip, so they had to have been shot from above."<br />Many years have gone by, but the collective spirit of Gwangju was what still stays with him until now.<br />"We cannot allow military to do this us. We have to fight back. That is the spirit that I remember of Gwangju."<br />People in Gwangju told him the fight was not for themselves, but for something greater.<br />"They all said one thing. We are doing this for the future. That was what they were thinking about."<br />South Korean President Moon Jae-in said during the commemorative event on Monday that the truth can open a path towards forgiveness and reconciliation.<br />South Korea launched an investigation committee earlier this year, to find out who was responsible for the brutal orders given in May 1980.<br />Choi Won-jong, Arirang News.<br />
