News Script Capturing the Situation Just Before 5·18 Found at Jeonnam University Broadcasting Station

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] Materials showing the news manuscripts of student reporters from Chonnam National University Broadcasting Station, who vividly recorded the situation just before the May 18 Incident, as well as the activities of various circles, have been discovered, attracting attention.

According to Chonnam National University on the 6th, the university's newspaper and broadcasting office recently found a collection of broadcast news manuscripts written by student reporters containing circumstances from May 15 and 16, 1980, during the process of organizing their office space.

These news manuscripts were handwritten by student reporters Jo Gyu-baek and Song Jae-hong, who were then reporters for CUB Jeon-dae Broadcasting, and contain more detailed content than existing research and oral materials.

In fact, these manuscripts record contents such as “Park Gwan-hyeon, the president of the student council, jointly prepared [the statement] with various vocational colleges in the province,” “Professor representative Jeong Ik-seop announced the political declaration drafted at the temporary general meeting of the professors' council on the 13th,” and “After Kim Tae-jin, the dean of student affairs, and the chairpersons of the professors' council reached an agreement with the provincial police, the dispersal occurred at 6:05.”

Yu Gyeong-nam, a former researcher at the Chonnam National University 5·18 Research Institute, said, “This material was directly recorded from the perspective of student reporters during May 1980, and it is original material that confirms not only the student movement at Chonnam National University but also the activities of professors who worked alongside the students.” He added, “Considering its historicity, rarity, authenticity, irreplaceability, and global value, it is judged to be a record that should be included in the May 18 Democratic Movement records registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World.”

Another newly discovered material, the ‘Great Festival of National Literature’ collection, is a compilation of event materials hosted by the social science circle ‘RUSA,’ the cultural activity circle ‘Eolsam,’ Yongbong Literary Society, and the ‘National Culture Research Society’ mainly composed of students from the Korean Language and Korean Language Education departments, and sponsored by the Chonnam National University Student Council between late April and early May 1980. It has been revealed that this material is not even found in the archives of the Democracy Movement Commemoration Project or the research institute archives currently collected.

In addition, a total of 104 items related to May 18 were additionally discovered, including 61 documents such as the ‘National and Democratic Holy Meeting’ leaflets and the ‘First Political Declaration,’ as well as 43 photographs.

Professor Noh Si-hoon of Chonnam National University said, “We will confirm more value through detailed verification and research in the future,” and added, “Since these are valuable materials, we will make them available for use by university members and local residents later.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.