51 Cases of Military Coup Forces' Sexual Violence Under Investigation... Some Victims Confirmed

5·18 Truth Investigation Committee Completes Investigation of 24 Cases

On the 8th, the 5·18 Truth Commission (Investigation Committee) announced that it is currently investigating 51 cases of sexual violence committed by martial law troops during the May 18 Democratic Uprising.

Citizens of Gwangju confronting martial law troops in Geumnam-ro, Gwangju, in May 1980.

The Investigation Committee is conducting investigations on 43 cases, including 17 cases investigated by the 5·18 Sexual Violence Joint Investigation Team and 26 cases selected from Gwangju City’s compensation review materials. The remaining 8 cases were directly requested for investigation by victims or related parties. The committee reported that investigations on 24 of these cases have been completed.

Among the 27 cases that have not been investigated, 20 were refused by the victims themselves, and 7 were deemed impossible to investigate due to the death of the victims or their families.

According to the investigation results, at least two of the sexual assault victims were high school girls, and seven victims were hospitalized or received related medical treatment.

It was reported that some victims made extreme choices or were repeatedly admitted and discharged from psychiatric hospitals over a long period. The martial law troops were also found to have committed group sexual assaults at least twice.

The Investigation Committee has so far conducted witness interviews with two martial law troops identified as perpetrators, but they are known to have strongly denied the allegations.

The committee is reconstructing the timeline and unit movements related to the sexual violence incidents and investigating whether there were any orders concerning women during the protest suppression operations, and if so, what those orders entailed.

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