Kim Kyung-jae, former National Assembly member of the Millennium Democratic Party, speaks during his time as president of the Korea Freedom Federation in 2017. [Yonhap News]

Former Political Elder, Sole Witness to 'May 18 North Korean Infiltration Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery,' Makes Shocking Revelation

"Stopped by Surprised Residents, They Abandoned Weapons and Fled... May 18 Needs Reinvestigation"

"Don't Even Dream of Including it in the Preamble of the Constitution Without National Consensus and Understanding"

Kim Kyung-jae, former chairman of the Korea Freedom Federation and former special envoy to Pyongyang during the Kim Dae-jung administration, has revealed for the first time concrete testimony that about 50 "special agents" speaking with North Korean accents attempted to raid Gwangju Station on the May 18th incident, but were blocked by residents, abandoned their weapons, and fled at Songjeongni Station in Gwangju.

In a recent phone interview with , Kim Kyung-jae strongly criticized, "If the spirit of May 18 is to be included in the preamble of the Constitution, national understanding and reinvestigation must be a prerequisite. Do not even dream of including it in the Constitution without national consensus," and revealed this testimony.

Kim served as a member of the 15th and 16th National Assembly for the Millennium Democratic Party and the National Congress for New Politics, the predecessors of the Democratic Party of Korea. After visiting North Korea as Kim Dae-jung's special envoy in 1999, he changed his party affiliation to the Saenuri Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) in the 2000s, then served as the president of the Korea Freedom Federation in 2016 and has been dedicated to patriotic activities to this day.

Kim testified, "During the May 18th incident, a group of about 50 soldiers stormed Songjeongni Station in Gwangju. They all looked like ROK soldiers, had rank insignia, and were carrying rifles. They demanded a train to storm Gwangju Station, but the Gwangju residents were surprised and blocked them, saying 'We absolutely cannot let you go,' and after much difficulty, their entry into Gwangju was thwarted."

He added, "It's strange that most of them left their weapons there and disappeared. They didn't speak much, but they primarily used Northern dialect (North Korean dialect)," and said, "So, I thought that perhaps about 50 'commandos' (special agents), though not the 600 mentioned by Dr. Ji Man-won, might have come."

In a phone call with the reporter, Kim explained further that he used the term 'commando' to mean specially trained agents, similar to the title of the movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Songjeongni Station is an old place name from the time of the May 18th incident in 1980, and its name was changed to Songjeong Station in 2009. Today, it takes about 35 minutes by train or 20 minutes by car from Songjeong Station to Gwangju Station.

However, he stated that the exact timing of their sightings was unclear. He said, "The timing is not precise, whether it was when Gwangju was occupied by some other force or when martial law forces were in control," and when asked if it was before or after the "Army Replacement Unit Incident (seizure of the 20th Division command vehicle)," he added, "It's ambiguous before or after that."

Below the New York Times headline from May 22, 1980, stating that rioters had taken over a South Korean city (Gwangju), the sub-headline reads, "Rioters rampage with arms seized from Military - strongman is assailed." The photo shows a banner reading "Tear apart Chun Doo-hwan."

According to experts who have studied the May 18th incident from a right-wing perspective, unidentified armed individuals appeared on multiple occasions at the time.

The Army Replacement Unit Incident is one of these. On the morning of May 21, 1980, the day the Citizens' Army claimed there was a "mass firing" by martial law troops, 14 command vehicles of the 62nd Regiment, 20th Division, which arrived in Gwangju, were attacked by unidentified figures in masks. (※This publication officially maintains the position that the 'mass firing' was a deception of the public, but uses the term restrictively to aid understanding of the context. As there was no shelling, the term 'firing' itself is factually inaccurate.)

Testimony was also revealed that about 100 suspicious men were spotted at Jeungsimsa Temple on Mudeungsan Mountain in Gwangju on May 14, four days prior, by 70 ROK Army officers who were hiking during a combat sports day. Testimony was also secured that rioters who stole firearms from a reserve arsenal in Hwasun, Jeollanam-do, used expressions like "Don't mess around."

Furthermore, at the Hwasun Police Station, government records showing that 800 armed individuals attacked to free those held in the detention center, firing guns, were unearthed by the government investigation committee formed by the Moon Jae-in administration and publicly disclosed as a minority opinion in the official report in June 2024.

There is also an analysis by a May 18th researcher that the head of the Combat Doctrine Development Division at the Combat Service Support Command heard orders multiple times for "North Korean forces to raid and liberate Gwangju Prison." A handwritten statement by a division operations chief, claiming that bodies of martial law soldiers were dragged around the city on trucks with ropes around their necks, was also discovered during the investigation.

A handwritten statement from the 20th Division's operations chief, describing "Ambush situation of vehicle column." At the bottom, it is recorded, "Missing driver was murdered by rioters." [Defense Security Agency·Army Headquarters Military Research Office]

The operational and damage situation at the time, as recorded on the 20th Division's "Ambush Situation of Vehicle Column" report counter-insurgency chart. At the very bottom, it is recorded, "Missing driver was murdered by rioters." [20th Division Document, Army]

Commander of the 2nd Army Command also received reports on spy infiltration Unlike the perception that our military was unaware of North Korean infiltration during the May 18th incident, actual suspicion by military authorities is confirmed in numerous records. Page 63 of the Army Headquarters' "Lessons Learned" published on May 22, 1981, which the reporter obtained, states that on May 23, 1980, during a staff operations meeting, the Commander of the 2nd Army Command reported, "Among the rioters in the Gwangju area, many include those wearing wigs and masks, and particularly about 20 individuals claiming to be university students from Seoul, indicating a situation that raises suspicion of 'infiltration' by North Korea." [Army Headquarters Lessons Learned]

Accordingly, strong criticism has been raised that despite public records of events that are difficult to imagine originating from the inherent nature of the vast majority of pure and innocent Gwangju citizens, left-leaning government investigations have failed to adequately address this issue. The core of the criticism is that if there was a behind-the-scenes force that had gaslighted and exploited the innocent citizens of Gwangju for over 40 years, its true nature should have been exposed and fully revealed, but the government investigation committee merely wasted taxpayer money.

In this interview regarding the testimony of "50 commandos," Kim Kyung-jae strongly urged reinvestigation, stating, "It's ambiguous and not precise whether they were North Korean commandos or Gwangju Airborne commandos controlled by North Koreans," but added, "This issue must be openly addressed so the public can know."

Kim Kyung-jae has consistently highly evaluated the "nature of the resistance" carried out by students and citizens in Gwangju in the early stages of the May 18th incident. This differs significantly from the perspective of some conservative May 18th researchers who view it as not a "democratization movement" itself, based on analyses of possible North Korean involvement.

Kim Kyung-jae, a former prominent elder who served as a National Assembly member with a Honam base, shares a strong sense of the problem regarding the reality that the list of May 18th merit recipients is not disclosed and is arbitrarily selected by the Mayor of Gwangju. He is particularly issuing a public warning that if current National Assembly members support the constitutional amendment proposal of the current Lee Jae-myung administration and ruling party, it will be evaluated as a historically shameful act.

He lamented, "The true heroes of Gwangju should be honored as true heroes, but fake merit recipients who weren't even present at the May 18th Gwangju site must be removed. Shouldn't Gwangju be cleaned up before it's included in the preamble of the Constitution?"

When the reporter was investigating the "North Korean Involvement Series of May 18th" for , Kim Kyung-jae repeatedly expressed his theory that it had the nature of a "democratization movement," but at the same time, regarding the possibility of external forces' intervention, he did not deny it, leaving room by saying, "There will be an opportunity to speak about it later."

It appears that a part of that "bundle" has now been revealed.

Around noon on May 21, 1980, unidentified individuals are seen stealing weapons at the Haenam Police Station behind a man in white.

Earlier, Kim Kyung-jae revealed that during his visit to North Korea as Kim Dae-jung's special envoy in 1999, he saw "temporary graves of People's Army patriotic martyrs who died in Gwangju" at the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery in Sinmiri, Pyongyang. Seo Ok-sik, former editor-in-chief of Yonhap News and then vice president and editorial committee member of the Korea Journalists Association, first reported this in 'KNews' in May 2023.

Kim Kyung-jae's significant testimony was also accepted by the court. On October 30 last year, the Gwangju High Court, Civil Division 1 (Presiding Judges Lee Ui-young, Jo Su-min, Jeong Jae-woo) stated in page 12 of the appellate ruling for Dr. Ji Man-won, "It is possible to consider that small-scale North Korean agents or fixed spies may have been active during the May 18th Democratization Movement," marking the first time this statement was officially recorded.