'Testimony of Helicopter Shooting During 5·18'... 60s Found Dead After Complaining of Aftereffects and Pain

Paralyzed from the waist down by martial law troops' bullets, suffering severe aftereffects

'May 18 Helicopter Shooting, We Are the Witnesses' Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Jeon Du-hwan passed away without apologizing to the suffering citizens, claiming that “the May 18 incident was an armed riot” or “to my knowledge, there was no helicopter shooting.” Meanwhile, a man in his 60s who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by martial law troops during the May 18 Democratic Movement and had been suffering from aftereffects was found dead.

According to the Gangjin Police Station in Jeonnam on the 24th, Lee (68) was found dead in the water at a reservoir in Gangjin-gun around 4 p.m. the previous day.

The police were searching Lee’s hometown village with firefighters after receiving a report from his family that Lee had left a note at his home in Iksan, Jeonbuk, around 4 p.m. on the 22nd and had lost contact.

The note reportedly said, “I have been in pain continuously, but the pain has been getting worse these days. I will forget all the resentment and sorrow about May 18 and leave.”

Lee received painkiller injections every four hours, and his family testified that he had suffered from aftereffects throughout his life.

After completing his military service as an Army soldier, Lee became a monk at a Jogye Order temple. In 1980, just before the Buddha’s Birthday event during the May 18 incident, he came to Gwangju, witnessed the atrocities of the martial law troops, and participated in citizens’ protests and patient transport.

He testified that on the afternoon of May 21, 1980, while driving a car from Baegundong Rotary in Nam-gu, Gwangju, toward Baegundong Hill, he directly witnessed helicopter gunfire.

He appeared as a witness at the National Assembly’s Gwangju Special Committee hearing in 1988, the prosecution investigation in 1995, and the first trial on May 13, 2019, for Jeon Du-hwan’s defamation of the deceased. He testified that he rescued a female student who was shot through the shoulder by helicopter gunfire and transported her to the Red Cross Hospital, and he also claimed that he was shot in the spine and paralyzed from the waist down.

Based on the fact that Lee’s vehicle was spotted at an intersection in Gangjin more than 5 km from the reservoir at 11:16 p.m. on the 22nd, the police believe he died between the night of the 22nd and the morning of the 23rd.

The police plan to determine the exact cause of death and then hand over the body to the family.

Jeon Du-hwan (90), who was the de facto ruler at the time of May 18 and responsible for the massacre of citizens, also died of an illness at his home around 8:40 a.m. on the 23rd.

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