Dr. Ji Man-won, who has been writing a history series on the May 18th Gwangju Uprising since 2003, has released his new book, "The End of the Sandcastle and the Torn Robes of Justice."

It is somewhat known that Dr. Ji Man-won has suffered hardships due to the May 18th incident. However, many people are unaware of the logic behind these difficulties and the nature of the persecution he faces.

This book, Dr. Ji's seventeenth publication, focuses on the legal disputes and trial processes surrounding the May 18th incident, narrating the unfolding conflict as perceived by the author. He likens the litigation that reached the Supreme Court to a battle and organizes the social and legal issues surrounding the case from his perspective.

While writing the 17 volumes of his historical series revealing the truth of May 18th, Dr. Ji was sued by Gwangju and served over two years and three months in prison. In addition, he is facing a lawsuit for damages amounting to 400 million won. Despite these circumstances, the author confesses that he wrote this book with the sentiment of "even so, one more book."

He stated, "Gwangju sent me to prison knowing the truth, subjected me to countless group assaults, and imposed murderous fines. The imprisonment and fines I endured were 'war costs' to win the war."

Furthermore, he conveyed, "Compared to the tsunami that will crash upon them the day the sandcastle crumbles, my personal suffering is but a drop in the bucket." As he says, the book starkly depicts how the sandcastle of May 18th is collapsing and how the judges, devoid of dignity, are tearing their robes of justice.

The author, Dr. Ji Man-won, graduated from the Korea Military Academy in 1966 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. For four years, until he was a captain, he engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Viet Cong in the jungles of Vietnam, earning commendations for military service and becoming a disabled veteran.

Nine years after graduating from the academy, in 1974, he self-studied and passed the entrance exam for the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, obtaining a Master's degree in Business Administration. He then switched to applied mathematics and earned a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering three years later. Subsequently, after working for the National Intelligence Service and the Agency for Defense Development, he retired as a colonel and became a professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Upon returning to Korea in 1990, he worked as a freelancer, contributing articles, writing books, and giving lectures on military commentary and systems management. During this time, he discovered the dangers of the Sunshine Policy and entered the anti-communist front.

From 2002 to the present, over 23 years, he has researched 180,000 pages of investigation records from the Chun Doo-hwan trial and North Korean documents, organizing the core of modern history, from the December 12th incident to May 18th, into 16 books.

By Reporter Im Yo-hee