Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

“As a grain of wheat 35 years ago…” Commemorative Service for Mun Yong-dong

2015-05-18 14:31

It was May 26, 1980. His sister and his brother’s wife came to visit the young man as he guarded the basement of the Jeollanam-do Office Building in Gwangju. They urged him to come home with them, because everyone there was bound to die when the place was seized by the martial law troops. Deprived of sleep from successive days on guard, he was exhausted. His family’s tears made him feel very sad. But he said with determination, “If I leave here, who will keep guard?”

The next day, early in the morning, the martial forces invaded the building. From outside they made a loud announcement demanding that the civilian militia to drop their weapons and surrender. There was no hope. What would this young man’s prayer have been at that moment? Finally he decided to surrender. His hands were empty, holding no weapon. But as soon as he opened the main gate of the building from inside, he was shot in the chest by three bullets.

There was a moment of silence as the presentation on the life of the late Mun Yong-dong (photo; 1953∼1980) concluded, in the main auditorium of Honam Theological University and Seminary (President: Ro Young-sang) on May 14. A solemn atmosphere prevailed throughout the commemorative service for the 35th anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the life of Mun Yong-dong. The event was organized by the Presbyterian Church in Korea (PCK Tonghap) Social Service Division and Human Rights Committee, and the Honam Seminary Alumni Association.

Rev. Choi Deok-gi, a graduate of Honam Seminary and Mun’s classmate, remembered him with the words, “He was planted as a grain of wheat in our history 35 years ago. His faith in God was straightforward and honest.”

Mission worker Mun first got involved in the demonstrations by chance, when he went to the aid of an elderly man who was being beaten by airborne troops on May 18, 1980. At the time, Mun was returning from his church, Sangmudae Church. Later on he came to be in charge of weapons control in the basement of the Jeollanam-do Office Building. At the time, in response to the military’s cruel oppression and mass shootings of civilians, Gwangju citizens moved to protect and defend themselves by expropriating firearms, bullets and grenades from the ammunition dump and police stations. More than half of those firearms, about 2,500 guns, and most of the explosives were stored in the basement of the building.

Mun worried about the possibility of a massive explosion, which would cause tremendous damage to the Gwangju citizens as well as to the martial law forces. He decided to defuse all the explosives, and asked Sangmudae (the Korean Army Training Center at that time) for help. Military members dispatched from Sangmudae finished detaching all the detonators.

Rev. Choi said that later some of the civilian group expressed suspicions toward Mun, because the defusing operation made it easier for the martial law troops to gain access and seize building. He explained, “But Mun did not return home even after all the explosives were defused. He stayed at his post, guarding the weapons. If the stored ammunition had exploded as a result of the poor guard, half of Gwangju could have been destroyed, an area 3 km in radius from the Jeollanam-do office building.”



In his sermon at the service, Rev. Kim Dong-yeob said, “The Christian vocation is to bring about peace on this earth. As one of the last civilian militia members during the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, mission worker Mun practiced his faith and was martyred in his efforts to bring about peace.”

After the service, the participants visited the May 18 National Cemetery and paid their respects at Mun’s grave (photo). During PCK Tonghap’s 100th General Assembly this coming September, the Jeollanam-do, Gwangju and East Gwangju presbyteries plan to introduce as an agenda item the designation of Mun as a martyr.

Reporter Lee Saya (Isaiah@kmib.co.kr), from Gwangju, with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok, from Gwangju


Click here for the original article in Korean

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