In South Korea, as well, historians say that Carter adopted the messaging of a military government facing human rights criticism.In May 1980, a student-led pro-democracy uprising in the South Korean city of Gwangju was met with a brutal crackdown. In a single day, 60 people were killed and hundreds injured.
Journalist Timothy Shorrock, who has been reporting on US-South Korea relations for decades, said that the Carter administration was wary of losing a useful Cold War ally and, therefore, threw its weight behind the military government.
He explained the US supported the South Korean leadership by freeing up military resources that allowed troops to put down the uprising.
“Knowing that [military leader General Chun Doo-hwan’s] forces had murdered 60 people the day before, they still believed this uprising was a national security threat to the United States,” Shorrock said of the Carter officials.
Antigovernment protesters carrying South Korean flags sit behind a city bus, used as a barricade in Gwangju on May 27, 1980 [AP Photo]
He added that when a US aircraft carrier was sent to the region, some protesters convinced of US rhetoric on democracy and human rights believed that the US was coming to intervene on their behalf.
Instead, the carrier ha …
