FOCUS

Focus
Asia-PacificNewsletter of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA)

March 2019 Vol. 95

Editorial

Contents
Breaking Down Walls of Stigma and Social
Discrimination: The Long Journey of the
Hansen's Disease Recoverers
This is a discussion on the role played by
the movement of people who haverecovered from Hansen disease on therecognition of the violation of their humanrights.
- Miwako Hosoda
Page 2Child Marriage in Indonesia: Resolving an
Issue
This is a report on the child marriage
problem in Indonesia, its causes and impact
on the health of young mothers and theirchildren.
- Lies Marcoes and Fadilla Dwianti Putri
Page 6
Continuous Distortion of the May 18 Uprisingin South Korea: A Challenge for Transitional
JusticeThis is a discussion on the still unresolved
issues about the Gwangju Uprising due tosome politicians’ view that denies its
significance as a people’s protest against
authoritarian rule.
- Praveen Kumar Yadav
Page 9Asian Human Rights Monitoring Mechanism:
Workshops for Asian Human Rights Court
This is a presentation on the idea of
establishing a regional human rights courtin Asia.
- Jau-hwa Chen
Page 12

Taking Action
In many cases, human rights violation or abuse leads todisempowerment. Many remain silent for fear of suffering moreviolation or abuse. But there are also cases of inaction and fear
evolving into confidence and resolve to address the injusticesuffered. Their actions in turn gain support from other groups insociety.
There are also cases of groups in society that highlight theinjustice being suffered by the silent victims, and help them get
empowered.
Society plays a part on both sides of issue. Societal prejudiceleads to isolation and abuse of people who have “problems.”
This is seen in the case of people suffering from discrimination
due to health conditions. But it is also the society that canaddress the injustice by changing its perspective and stopping
practices that cause human rights abuse. It must be recognizedthough that societal change is not easily attainable.
Key to the change of societal perspective is the recognition of
the injustice being suffered. And again, this change does not
happen without actions being taken first either by the victims, orgroups in society that help them.

1

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Breaking Down Walls of Stigma and Social Discrimination:
The Long Journey of the Hansen’s Disease Recoverers
Miwako Hosoda

D

o you know what the
Hansen’s disease is? Do
you know that it is an infection
caused by a bacterium calledmycobacterium leprae that
affects the skin and peripheral
nerves causing the change inskin appearance? In the past, it
was called "Leprosy" ("Rai 癩" inJapanese). But the name"Hansen’s disease" is now theofficial disease name because
the previous name wasstigmatized and led to social
discrimination. While there are
few new cases every year, there
are still fourteen Hansen'sdisease sanatoriums in Japan,
with about 1,450 recoverers(having an average age ofe i g h t y - fi v e y e a r s ) . 1 M o s t
recoverers are cured, but they
continue to stay in thesanatoriums for the after-effects,
their advanced age and the
problem of going home.

history and hide one's identity
to be able to live outside thesanatoriums. This is self-denial.
Discriminated people havedifficult time regaining selfrespect and overcoming
discrimination. They get backtheir self-esteem only when
they step out of suchdiscriminatory circumstances
and talk about themselves. But
this takes a long time.
Human Rights and the Hansen’s
Disease Issue
The Japanese leprosy law of1907 (first revised in 1931 andthen in 1953) provided the basis
for the absolute isolation ofHansen’s disease sufferers
policy. A building in one
sanatorium, Kuriu Rakusei-en,
called “Jyu-Kan-Bo, special

hospital ward”, was actually aprison for disobedient Hansen'sdisease patients during the
1938-1947 period. Those who
did not obey the medical staff
or were suspected ofcommitting a crime were notgiven an official trial and were
locked in the small, dark prisonlike rooms as punishment. Even
after the Hansen’s disease
became curable in the 1950s
with the introduction of the
drug therapy using “Promin,”the Japanese government,
medical authorities and public
opinion did not change theirattitude on isolation of Hansen’sdisease sufferers for a long time.
When the Leprosy Prevention
Law was repealed in 1996, theJapanese state admitted that thelaw violated the human rights of
those with the Hansen’s disease.

Despite the low-level
infectiousness and effective
medical treatments, patients ofthe disease still suffer social
discrimination even after getting
cured. This is the reason why
they are called “recoverers.”
Once people were diagnosed
with Hansen’s disease, they
were segregated from society
and sent to the sanatoriums,
located in remote areas.
After getting cured, recoverers
have to change their names,
stay silent about one’s medical

Nagashima Aisei-en, located in an island, is connected to the main islandby a bridge built in 1988 and called “Bridge of recovery of human dignity.”

2

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Despite this, the social stigma
a g a i n s t H a n s e n ’s d i s e a s erecoverers still remains.
Stigma is defined as a labelingby society. Race, ethnicities,
beliefs and criminal histories
can carry social stigma. Also,
stigma can attach to illnesses
and disabilities. Discrimination
studies locate the original
source of stigma in theseparation of “us” from “them.”
It is comparable to the
distinction between“uchi” (inner) and “soto” (outer)in the Japanese context. Whilepersons similar to us are
acceptable, those different fromus are not acceptable. People
who are different from us might
be harmful to us. Therefore,
people different from us should
be kept away and prevented
from having contact with us.
Thus, stigma is born from “fear”
and the “difference” of others.
Z e n - R y o - Ky o ’s A c t i v i t i e s :Continuous Struggle against
Social Stigma
To overcome this situation, an
organization of people living inthe sanatoriums was establishedin 1951 and named Zen-RyoKyo (National Hansen’s Disease
Sanatoria Residents’
Association). Zen-Ryo-Kyo’s
goals can be divided into
physical and emotional or
intellectual goals. The first goal
includes improving the medical
circumstances and daily life in
the sanatoriums. The second
one involves social
rehabilitation. The activities of
Zen-Ryo-Kyo in pursuit of thesecond goal are designed toreduce social stigma anddiscrimination.

Stone Monument of “Jyu-kanbo”; special hospital ward/prison in Kuriu
Rakusei-en.

The activities of Zen-Ryo-Kyo to
reduce stigma can be
categorized into four types: 1)
efforts to change the name from“leprosy” to “Hansen’s Disease;”2) efforts to influence the mass
media to avoid discriminatory
expressions; 3) efforts to educate
the public about Hansen’sdisease; and 4) efforts to repeal
the Leprosy Prevention Law.
Some of the activities may fit inmore than one category.
Changing the Name of the
DiseaseSince the word “leprosy”
evoked negative impressions
and had led to social stigma anddiscrimination, Zen-Ryo-Kyobegan as early as 1952 topromote the term “Hansen’s
d i s e a s e .” Th i s e f f o r t w a s
influenced by the residents ofCarville, Louisiana in the U.S.
who had demanded that
authorities use the term
“Hansen’s disease” after the
Norwegian medical scientist
Armauer Hansen who identified
the leprosy bacteria. This namech a n g e g ra d u a l l y b e c a m e
accepted, and the mass media
in Japan such as newspapers

3

started to use the name“ H a n s e n ’s d i s e a s e ” f r o m
mid-1960s and to a great extent
abandoned the word “leprosy”
by the end of 1970s.
Persuading Mass Media Not to
Use Discriminatory Expressions
Z e n - R yo - Kyo p r o t e s t e dwhenever it noticed negativeand incorrect information about
the disease on television orradio, or in newspapers, novels
and illustrated books.
For
example, in 1973 Zen-Ryo-Kyofound an incorrect andmisleading article about
Hansen’s disease in a healthscience textbook for juniorsecondary school students. The
article did not offer an accurates c i e n t i fi c e x p l a n a t i o n o f
H a n s e n ’s d i s e a s e , a n dstimulated social stigma anddiscrimination by exaggerating
the fear against the disease.
Zen-Ryo-Kyo requested theMinistry of Health and Social
Welfare and the Ministry of
Education to revise thetextbook. The Ministry of
Education subsequently directed
the publisher of the textbook tomake the revisions.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
Educating the Public
Zen-Ryo-Kyo worked to help
people understand Hansen’sdisease. A prime example ofthese efforts is the establishmento f t h e N a t i o n a l H a n s e n ’s
Disease Museum in TamaZensyou-En, a sanatorium in
To k y o . Th e m u s e u m w a s
established in 1992 by Tofu
Kyokai Association, a Hansen’sdisease recoverers’ support
group. Some of the recoverers
are working there as “narrators,”
talking about life with Hansen’sdisease.2
Working to Repeal the Leprosy
Prevention Law
Zen-Ryo-Kyo worked to repeal
the 1931 Leprosy Prevention
Law which established thepolicy of absolute isolation. Thislaw was based on the 1907 law
called “The Matter Related to
the Prevention of Leprosy.”
The 1931 law that required
absolute isolation also
guaranteed that the Japanese
government would support boththe financial and medical needsof the Hansen’s disease sufferers
while in the sanatoriums.
From the beginning, in the
1950s, Zen-Ryo-Kyo protested
against the injustice of the
Leprosy Prevention Law andtried to modify or repeal it.
However, the revision of the1931 law in 1953 retained theisolation policy, which remainedon the books until 1996.
Zen-Ryo-Kyo continued its
advocacy to repeal the law by
working with local
governments, other groups ofpeople with illnesses anddisabilities, civil movement
groups and lawyers. As a result,

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95
the Cabinet Council submitted areport to enact the bill entitled“The Matter Related to the
Repeal of the Leprosy
Prevention Law.” This led theDiet to enact the law that
repealed the 1953 law in 1996.
Hansen disease recoverers
started filing cases in court in1998 demanding compensationfrom the government. Several
complaints were filed in the
courts in Kumamoto, Tokyo andOkayama prefectures. In 2001,
the Kumamoto District Court
ruled that the isolation policy
under the 1953 revision of thelaw violated the rights of the
Hansen disease recoverers
provided for in the JapaneseConstitution, and that the
government failed to take action
to eliminate discrimination andprejudice against the patient's
families. The court also ordered
the government to pay eachcomplainant between eight
million Yen and fourteen million
Yen in compensation for theirforced isolation under the law(that was repealed in 1996).3
In 2001, the Diet enacted theA c t o n Pa y m e n t o fCompensation to Inmates ofHansen's Disease Sanatorium(Act No. 63 of 2001). In thefollowing year, 2002, members
o f Z e n - R y o - Ky o o b t a i n e dcompensation from the Japanese
government for damages causedby the isolation policy.
Contribution of Zen-Ryo-Kyo
a n d H a n s e n ’s D i s e a s e
Recoverers
What factors proved effective in
the actions to reduce stigma?
Why and how? Two factors canbe identified. Firstly, thismovement is not only for people

4affected by Hansen’s disease but
for all those stigmatized for theirillnesses and disabilities. The
activists of Zen-Ryo-Kyo findmotivation in the fact that theiractivities profit not only theirown interests but benefit allothers who suffer due toillnesses and disabilities.
Richard Parker, a medical
anthropologist, wrote that “thekey question is whether we will
be able to build upon thepolitics of identity so as totransform it into a politics ofsolidarity” (Parker, 1999). Them e m b e r s o f Z e n - R yo - Kyo
believed that collaboration
among vulnerable people hasenormous power. Zen-Ryo-Kyo
promoted solidarity among
those oppressed as a result ofsocial discrimination against
people suffering from illnesses
and disabilities, and removed
the barrier between “us” and“them.”A second factor contributing to
the success of the Zen-Ryo-Kyo
movement is the number ofindividuals and groups who
have been supporting the
movement. From the beginning,
Zen-Ryo-Kyo has a particularlys t r o n g b o n d w i t h Ja p a n ’s
National Hospital Workers’
Union (Zen-I-Ro, established in1948) and Japan’s Patients
League (Nikkan, established in1948) which originally
represented tuberculosis
patients. These two groups and
Zen-Ryo-Kyo share ties of“brotherhood.” Through theirp a r t n e r s h i p , Z e n - R y o - Ky olearned how to organize amovement and how to negotiatewith the government. Japan’sPatients Council (established in1986) and the National
Conference to Support the Life

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
and Rights of Disabled Persons(established in 1967) also
worked closely with Zen-RyoKyo. In addition, Zen-Ryo-Kyo
gradually developed close
collaboration with otherorganizations, such as the
Hansen’s Disease ProvisionCouncil and the National
Hansen’s Disease Sanatoriums
Presidents League.
Zen-Ryo-Kyo also developed
strong partnerships withlawyers, medical professionals,
mass media, and civil society
activists during the campaign torepeal the “Leprosy Prevention
Law” in 1990. Lawyers argued
that the policy of absolute
isolation was discriminatory andviolated the human rights
protected by the JapaneseConstitution.
Medicalprofessionals at the annual
meeting of Japanese Leprosy
Association blamed themselves
for not taking action against the
Leprosy Prevention Law in spiteof the fact that they knew thatabsolute isolation was medicallyunnecessary. Mass media ran
stories about social stigma andthe discrimination against
Hansen’s disease sufferers andadvocated the repeal of the Law.
About twenty civil society
groups actively supported theZ e n - R y o - Ky o ’s c l a i m f o rcompensation against theJapanese government. Manyc iv i l s o c i e t y g r o u p s h e l dmeetings to learn about
H a n s e n ’s d i s e a s e a n dcommunicated with people whor e c o v e r e d f r o m H a n s e n ’s
disease. Also, some members of
the civil society groups attended
court hearings and influenced
public opinion.
It took the mass media sometime before adopting a neutral

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95
position, although they were
aware of the unfair
discrimination against people
with Hansen’s disease. In the
1990s, all mass media outlets
supported Zen-Ryo-Kyo’s efforts
to repeal the “Leprosy
Prevention Law.”
Many civilsociety groups collaborated with
Z e n - R y o - Ky o i n 1 9 9 9 i n
preparing for legal proceedings
against the government. In sum,collaboration among people
w i t h H a n s e n ’s d i s e a s e ,professional groups and civilgroups can change society.
Collaboration to Change theSocietyIn the first forty years of its
existence, Zen–Ryo-Kyo had
few collaborators because of thegreat stigma attached toHansen’s disease. During thisperiod, however, activists of
Zen-Ryo-Kyo believed that they
were working not only forpeople with Hansen’s disease
but for all who had healthproblems.4 After a long time
Zen-Ryo-Kyo finally obtained
the sympathy of otherindividuals and groups. This sortof movement should serve as amodel in future cases where
stigma and social discrimination
against people with diseases ordisabilities arise.
Zen-Ryo-Kyo continued toundertake many activities toreduce stigma even though it
took a long time for its efforts tobear fruit. The Japanese society
need to provide more support
for their activities. There aremany people who arestigmatized because they haveheritable diseases, HIV/AIDS,
physical disabilities, or mental
disorders and are discriminatedagainst in education,

5

employment and marriage. Now
is the time to look back at thehistory of the movement
conducted by people with
Hansen’s disease to find ideas tosolve the problems of otherpeople with stigmatized
illnesses and disabilities and todesign social support systems tohelp similar movements. People
with Hansen’s disease haveoffered society the chance tochange from an intolerantsociety to a generous one. Can
our society grab this opportunityand change its nature?
Ourability to accept this opportunity
is now being judged.
Miwako Hosoda, PhD, is VicePresident of Seisa University,
Kanagawa, Japan.
For further information, pleasecontact: Miwako Hosoda,
Faculty of Life Network Science,S e i s a U n i v e r s i t y, e - m a i l :miwhosoda@seisa.ac.jp; http://
seisa.ac.jp/en/.
References
Goffman, E., 1963. Stigma:
Notes on the management ofspoiled identity, Prentice-Hall.
Hosoda, M., 2010. “Hansen’s
Disease Recoverers as Agents of
Change,” Leprosy Review, Vol.
8, pages 5-16.
Parker, R., 1999. Beneath theequator: Culture of desire, malehomosexuality, and emerging
gay communities in Brazil,
Routledge.
Endnotes
1 National Institute of Infectious
Disease, “Hansen’s Disease,”(Continued on page 15)

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Child Marriage in Indonesia: Resolving an Issue*
Lies Marcoes and Fadilla Dwianti PutriC

hild marriage is a form of
violence against womenand girls, as it deprives them of
their rights to education,
healthcare, and freedom fromviolence, among others.
Indonesia has committed to end
child marriage in order to reach
the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
However, as of 2016, it isestimated that one in nine girls
in Indonesia will marry before
the age of eighteen1 and, due to
its large population, the country
is among the ten countries
worldwide with the highest
absolute number of girls
married while underaged.2
The Issues
The research on child marriage
in Sumenep Regency, Madura,
East Java undertaken by Rumah
KitaB3 in 2015 shows that close
to 70 percent of the people in
the regency got married before
the age of eighteen. The districtof Dungkek in the regency had
the highest number of childmarriage, with about 80 percent
of its nearly four thousandpeople - as per national
population records in 2015 having married as children.
The research also reveals thatchild marriage is caused bydifferent factors andcircumstances. But there is one
common factor that led to it either the complete absence ofparental guidance due tomigration, or weakened family
structures resulting from divorce
or pressures related to survivalin the face of poverty.
Another research conducted in
Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara
province involving four girls(identified as Rita, Ida, Vera andIdawati)4 reveals the significant
roles played by religious andcommunity leaders in Lombok,
West Nusa Tenggara. Youngcouples who eloped (merariq)
are urged by these leaders tomarry immediately, and insist
that marriage is the only
solution to the situation toprevent shame on the whole
village. The community has astrong culture of shame. It
recognizes the religious andcommunity leaders as
custodians of customary rules.
These customs are reinforced byIslamic religious values that add
greater pressure to eloping
young couples to marry.
Unmarried girls who eloped andfailed to immediately marry are
subject to social pressure
including gossip and ridicule.
They would be referred to as
mayung bakat (literally meaning“injured deer”), dedare toaq/
mosot (old spinsters) or“tainted” and thus a disgrace tothe family. Boys on the other
hand are not subject to thesesocial mores.
For girls who get pregnant,religious values require
marriage in order to have the6names of both parents listed on
the child’s birth certificate.
According to Islam, therelationship of a child to thefather can exist once ijab qabul(exchange of marriage vows)
has occurred. Outside ofmarriage, the child would only
be officially related to themother.
Girls who marry early are forced
to bear the financial burden of
their households throughinformal work, and not allowed
to continue their education (butthe boys continue their study).
Many are forced to raisechildren alone (as in the casesof Rita and Ida). Child marriage
is also associated with the highdivorce rate in Lombok. Being
psychologically ill-equipped atsuch young age to deal withmarriage and economic
pressures, many child marriages
lead to divorce within one year.
Health and Child Marriage
Studies on child marriages often
refer to the impact of underagem a r r i a g e o n w o m e n ’s
reproductive health. From thefour case studies in Lombok,
three of the girls experienced
adverse effects on theirr e p r o d u c t ive h e a l t h . O n eshowed signs of anemia during
her pregnancy, and anotherexperienced bleeding due to anunderdeveloped uterus. A third
one was administeredcontraception at a very young
age. 80 percent of teens in

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Wedding reception in Lombok (Photos by Morenk Beladro)

Lombok suffer from anemia, acondition affecting the uterus
and nutrient supply to anunborn child. This poses risks
during and after (postpartum)
birth. Furthermore, the impactsof child marriage on
reproductive health are notlimited to physical health, butalso to the psychological healthof the girls who have not yet
reached a level of maturity
required to raise a child.
The 2013 data from Lombok,
show the mortality rate of
women as shown in the tablebelow.
The Lombok statistics show thatthe highest rate of maternalmortality occur at the post-natal
phase. The leading causes ofmaternal mortality in Lombok

are bleeding, infection,complications associated withheavy workloads following
birth, and poor health andsanitation facilities.
Infant mortality, on the other
hand, usually occurs wheninfants are around one monthold, and two-thirds of the cases
occur when infants are aroundo n e w e e k o l d . Th e We s t
Lombok Health Department
sees low birth weight, often
related to the physical andmental condition of young, illprepared mothers, as the biggest
factor for infant mortality. These
factors also relate to the highrate of maternal mortality in
Lombok, especially when amother’s reproductive organ is
not yet fully mature.

Number of Maternal Mortality in Lombok in 2013
Pre-natal

Natal

Post-natal

AmountMataram

3

2

9

[14]

East Lombok

10

0

25

35

Central Lombok

1

3

16

20

West Lombok

4

3

3

10

North Lombok

0

0

2

2

Total

[81]

Source: West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Statistics Office5

7

Measures to Address Child
Marriage and Health Problems
The Indonesian Marriage Law of1974 provides that a girl of atleast sixteen years of age canmarry with parental consent.
But the Law on Child Protectionof 2002 defines a person under
the age of eighteen as a childregardless of gender. The
conflict between the two laws
was brought to court. On 13
December 2018, theConstitutional Court ofIndonesia issued an orderdeclaring the provision of theIndonesian Marriage Law of1974 on marrying age for girls
unconstitutional anddiscriminatory against girls. It
also considered this legal
provision as against the law onchild protection.6
But the question remains, how
can child marriage be stopped
at the level of the community?
The people know the law onmarriage and in a number ofcases prevented the applicationof the law by using the
traditional marriage system toallow child marriage,7 or byusing the legal process withfalsified documents on theirage.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICOf the four case studies
examined in the research, it isclear that there is a link
between child marriage, socialchange and cultural stagnationin terms of the application ofmerariq in Lombok’s case or fearof becoming an “old spinster”8in other cases.9 Due to theabsence of parental guidanceand support, low levels of
maturity and education, the girls
agreed to marry. They viewed
marriage as a solution to the
problems they faced at home.
Social and institutionalpressures and the strict
application of cultural traditions
by community and religious
leaders make it difficult for girls
like Rita and Vera to be allowed
to continue their schooling andpostpone marriage until they arephysically, emotionally andpsychologically more equipped
to deal with the pressures ofmarriage and raising a family.
Th e c a s e o f Ve r a ( wh ocontinued her study after
marriage) however is a clear
example of how intervention bylegal aid providers andprovincial and district legal
institutions can lead to muchbetter outcomes for girls
particularly in relation toeducation.
Therefore, besides working at
the national level to raise theminimum age of marriage forgirls, working together withformal and non-formal
institutions at the community
level is crucial since these
institutions are the“gatekeepers” who have power
to allow and, at the same time,to prevent child marriage at thecommunity level.

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95
Lies Marcoes is the Executive
Director while Fadilla D. Putri is
the Program Manager of Yayasan
Rumah Kita Bersama.
For further information, pleasecontact: Lies Marcoes
andFadilla D. Putri, Yayasan Rumah
Kita Bersama (Rumah KitaB),
Rawa Bambu I, Blok B/7, Pasar
Minggu, Jakarta 12520
Indonesia; ph (6221) 7803440,
778837997; e-mail:o f fi c i a l @ r u m a h k i t a b . c o m ;www.rumahkitab.com.
* This article is largely based on
the 2015 report of the authors
entitled Child Marriage and
the Phenomenon of Social
Orphans in Lombok, Rumah
Kita Bersama and Australia
Indonesia Partnership for
Justice, and the 2016 report
entitled Testimony of the Child
Brides - Summary of Results of
Research Study on Cases ofChild Marriage and the Role ofInstitutions in Nine Regions inIndonesia, April 2016. Morerecentdocuments
supplemented the discussion
from these reports.

Endnotes
1

2
3

4

UNICEF Indonesia Factsheet:Child Marriage in Indonesia,
2017.
UNICEF, State of the World'sChildren, 2017.
Lies Marcoes and Fadilla Dwianti Putri, Testimony of theChild Brides - Summary of Results of Research Study on
Cases of Child Marriage andthe Role of Institutions in Nine
Regions in Indonesia, April
2016.
The four women in the casestudies were identified throughconsultation with local activists, government officials and

8

5

6

7

8
9

community members. The interviews were held after getting
the approval of the woman, herparents and village leadership.
Lies Marcoes and Fadilla Dwianti Putri, Child Marriage and
the Phenomenon of Social Orphans in Lombok, Rumah Kita
Bersama and Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice,2015, page 4.
See Agustinus Beo Da Costa,“Court ruling brings Indonesia
closer to ending child marriage:c a m p a i g n e r s ,” R e u t e r s ,www.reuters.com/article/us-ind
onesia-women-marriage/court-r
uling-brings-indonesia-closer-to-ending-child-marriage-campai
gners-idUSKBN1OC1CM.
See discussion on role of institutions in Testimony of theChild Brides - Summary of Results of Research Study on
Cases of Child Marriage andthe Role of Institutions in Nine
Regions in Indonesia, op. cit.
Translated from the Indonesianlanguage “perawan tua.”
Marcoes and Putri, Testimonyof the Child Brides - Summaryof Results of Research Study on
Cases of Child Marriage andthe Role of Institutions in Nine
Regions in Indonesia, op. cit.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Continuous Distortion of the May 18 Uprising inSouth Korea: A Challenge for Transitional Justice
Praveen Kumar Yadav

T

he Gwangju Uprising of1980 also referred to as the“May 18 Democratization
Movement[,] was thecornerstone [of the Korean
movement]
towards
democratization and has been
considered to be the milestoneof Korean democracy.”1 The
s t ru ggl es of the G wa ngj uUprising prompted the prodemocratic forces to extend thefight nationwide. Seven years
later, in the June 1987, anotheruprising finally defeated the
dictatorship and restoreddemocracy.
The work towards transitional
justice and reconciliation after
the Gwangju Uprising started
thirty-nine years ago and still
continues at present. The truth
on what happened during theuprising has remained elusivedespitegovernment
investigations.
Several significant government
investigations on the Gwangju
U p r i s i n g h av e b e e n h e l d
including prosecution
investigations (1995), Past
A f f a i r s Tr u t h U n v e i l i n g
Committee of the Defense
Ministry (2007), Past Affairs
Tr u t h a n d R e c o n c i l i a t i o n
Settlement Committee (2010),
and Defense Ministry Special
Rapporteur (2018).2 They all had
significant results but still failed
to unveil the complete truth.
Notably, they failed to find out

what happened to the missing
persons, how many people
died, and who ordered the firingon the demonstrators on 21 May
1980.
In order to deal with the
Gwangju Uprising, citizens’ andcivil society organizations
identified five principles:3 (1)c o n d u c t o f f a c t – fi n d i n g /investigation; (2) punishment for
those responsible for theviolence; (3) reparation/compensation for the victims;(4) restoration of the honor of
the victims; and (5)commemoration projects.
The pardon of the two former
Presidents - Chun Doo-hwan
a n d R o h Ta e - wo o - a f t e rspending only two years in jailstopped the completion oftransitional justice in the
country.
In February 2018 the Korean
National Assembly passed theGwangju Uprising Fact-Finding
Special Act to investigate “thehuman rights violationscommitted by the government’s
martial law troops and identify
who gave the order to open
fire.”4
May 18 Uprising
The assassination of President
Park Chung-hee in 1979 raised
the hope for democracy among
the South Koreans. But this hope9

was crushed by the military
coup led by then Army General
Chun Doo-hwan in 1980.
On 17 May 1980, Ch un
imposed martial law nationwide
and ordered the arrest of
thousands of pro-democracy
activists.5 The next day (18 May
1980), soldiers stopped students
protesting against martial law infront of Chonnam National
University in Gwangju city.
When the students refused tostop, the soldiers brutally beatthem. The soldiers also beat the
bystanders and passersby.
Thereafter, the students went to
the South Jeolla Provincial Hall
protesting the soldiers’ brutal
action. They chanted the slogans"Lift the emergency martial law,"and "Chun Doo-hwan out." Thesoldiers viciously attacked thestudents in response. This abuseoutraged the citizens ofGwangju city. For ten days (18 27 May 1980), people bravely
fought the soldiers to defend
Gwangju city and demanded
democracy. On 27 May 1980,the soldiers suppressed theprotest and sang a war song intriumph. Eventually, Chunbecame the fifth President ofSouth Korea on 1 September
1980. He led a dictatorial
government until February
1988.
Official figures put the numberof casualties during the uprising
at 5,517 in total, including one

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

hundred fifty-five dead, eightyone missing, and many others
who were injured and died due
to injuries, and detained by theauthorities. However, figuresfrom different sources vary fromthose of the government.

National Assembly building on
11 February 2019. Jee Manwon, a controversial far-rightcommentator, repeated in theforum his claim that North
Korean soldiers were deployedin the Gwangju Uprising.6

The 1980 Gwangju Uprising
started the democratic
movement in South Korea that
continued till late 1980s. The
death of Park Jong-chul due topolice torture in 1987 made theSouth Koreans realize thesignificance of the Gwangju
Uprising. The May 18
Democratization Movement
was revived with the search fortruth and justice for those who
suffered from state violence.

Jee was convicted of defamationby the courts in 2003 and 2013
for his false claims about the
involvement of the North
Korean military in the Gwangju
Uprising.7 A report states that
the Korean “Supreme Court had
ruled Jee guilty of defamation
for such claims in 2013.”8Continuing False Claim
The 2017 three-volume book
(Chun Doo Hwan Memoirs) of
Chun distorted the Gwangju
Uprising history by assertingthat there was no gunfire fromhelicopters during the Gwangju
Uprising. He also accused thelate priest Cho Chul-hyun ofmaking a malicious argument
and wrote that he should beashamed of calling himself aclergyman. Cho, an eyewitnessof the 1980 uprising, said that
he saw helicopters firing on theprotesters.
In response to Chun’s lies, Cho’s
relatives and activists sued him
for defamation in April 2017.
The Prosecution agreed that
helicopters opened fire during
the crackdown and indicted
Chun in May 2018.
Two members of the Liberty
Korea Party (LKP) (Kim Jin-tae
and Lee Jong-myeong)organized a public forum on the
G wa n g j u U p r i s i n g a t t h e

Another member of the party,
Representative Kim Soon-rye,also gave controversial remarks
during the public forum and“referred to family members of
those who died in the May 18
movement as a ‘monstrousgroup’ formed by ‘pro-North
Korea leftists’ that is ‘dipping
into tax money.’”9The LKP recommended Kwon
Tae-oh, a career soldier andformer secretary-general of the
National Unification Advisory
Council; Lee Dong-uk, former
reporter for the Chosun
Monthly, and Cha Gi-hwan, alawyer, for membership in the
Gwangju Uprising Fact-Finding
Commission. Activists andadvocates for the victims of the
Gwangju Uprising expected
them to block efforts at getting
the truth out since they haveexpressed bias against theuprising.10 In February 2019,
President Moon Jae-in rejected
two of the three LKP nominees
to the Commission. The failureof LKP to nominate acceptablenominees and the controversial
position of some LKP members
have delayed the establishmentof the Commission.11

10

These developments show thecontinuing distortion of thet r u t h a b o u t t h e G wa n g j uUprising.
Dodging Accountability12
Chun failed to attend the 7January 2019 court hearing on adefamation charge against him
supposedly due to flu and highfever. Activists and victims of
the Gwangju Uprising who
gathered at the High Court of
Gwangju loudly expressed theirdisbelief. They considered Chuna great liar.
C h u n h a s b e e n av o i d i n g
appearance in court. Prior to
the January 2019 court hearing,
Chun claimed that he wassuffering from Alzheimer’s
disease. In addition, he asked
for a long period of preparation
for the trial, and tried to change
the venue of the trial from
Gwangju city to Seoul. Whent h e G wa n g j u H i g h C o u r t
rejected his petition to change
the trial venue, he went to theSupreme Court which upheld
the lower court decision.13 The
Gwangju High Court issued awarrant of arrest to force Chun
to appear in the next hearingscheduled for 11 March 2019.
Outrage for the Distortions
In response to the controversial
remarks by the LKP members,
The Korea Times published an
editorial entitled “Anachronistic
View”14 that reads:
It is ludicrous to make sucha claim. Scholars, officials,
and civic activists havealready conductednumerous investigations andconcluded that the Gwangju
Incident was a pro-

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
democracy movement
against the Chun Doo-hwanled military junta. Chunseized power through amilitary coup after the Oct.
26, 1979 assassination ofthen President Park Chunghee.

The editorial questions how
they (LKP members) could evendenounce the pro-democracy
movement, which claimed morethan two hundred lives, as a"riot." They had not evenhesitated to describe the prodemocracy activists as a groupof "monsters."
Tim Sharrock, who did extensive
reporting on Gwangju Uprisingand received honorary citizenshipfrom Gwangju city in 2015,r e i t e r a t e d t h a t t h e r e wa s
absolutely no evidence of North
Korea involvement from thethousands of documents ofAmerican government agencies.15
Civic groups launched apetition16 on the website ofCheong Wa Dae (Blue House/
Executive office and official
residence of the President of the
Republic of Korea), signed by
9,000 people (as of February2019), demanding their removalfrom the parliament for theirdefaming remarks about the
Gwangju Uprising.
On 16 February 2019, thirtynine years after the Gwangju
Uprising, people in Gwangju
city gathered again atGeumnam-ro street to protest
the distortion of the truth about
the uprising. The historic eventin 1980 took place on
G e u m n a m - r o s t r e e t . Th edemonstrators and the leaders
who spoke during the protest
gathering pointed out that theroot cause of the Gwangju

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95
Uprising was Chun’s militarycoup.17518org@gmail.com/
iprav33n@gmail.com; http://
eng.518.org. (English).

Conclusion
Th e i n v e s t i g a t i o n b y t h e
Gwangju Uprising Fact-Finding
Commission is highly importantconsidering that the witnesses
are getting old and evidence
must be secured. This factfinding effort is considered as
the ultimate opportunity fordiscovering the whole truth
about the Gwangju Uprising.
Civic groups, including the May
18 Memorial Foundation, havedemanded that the LPK
lawmakers giving controversial
remarks about the Gwangju
Uprising should make a publicapology to the victims andactivists of the democratic
movement. The LPK itself shouldtake an action against them, andrecommend members for the
Gwangju Uprising Fact-Finding
Commission who have proper
historical awareness andcommon sense that the people
in Gwangju city can accept.
Last but not the least, a special
legislation to prevent the
distortion of history is a must.
This will pave the way for a
successful transition to justice.
Praveen Kumar Yadav, a humanrights researcher from Nepal isan International Intern at the
May 18 Memorial Foundation.
For further information, pleasecontact: Praveen Kumar Yadav,
International Affairs
D e p a r t m e n t , Th e M ay 1 8
Memorial Foundation, 152
Naebangro Seo-gu Gwangju
Republic of Korea 61965; ph:+82-62-360-0518; fax:
+82-62-360-0519; e-mail.

11

Endnotes
1 Lee Gi-bong, "Missing for 38
Years, We Must Remember
Them," Mayzine, vol. 10,
November 2018, http://
5 1 8 . o r g / M ay z i n e / 2 0 1 8 1 0 /subpage/sub0102.php.
Accessed on 15 February 2019.
2 Lee, ibid.
3 Ahn Jong-Cheol, "TheSignificance of Settling the Pastof the December 12 Coup andthe May 18 Gwangju Uprising,”
Korea Journal, Vol. 42. No.3,
Autumn, 2002, pages 112-138,
www.ekoreajournal.net/issue/
view_pop.htm?Idx=3212#13.
Accessed on 22 February 2019.
4 P r a v e e n K u m a r Ya d a v ,“Distortion of the May 18
Uprising Enrages the Nation,”광주인 (Gwangjuin),www.gwangjuin.com/news/
articleView.html?
idxno=201130.
5 Cheolwon Kim, Their Gwangju:
Gwangju Uprising and the June
Struggle, Hanul M-Plus, 2017,
page 16.
6 "Anachronistic view,” The
Korea Times, 10 February 2019,www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/o p i n i o n /2019/02/202_263409.html.
Accessed 18 February 2019.
7 Kim Hoo-ran, "Gwangju
deniers damage democracy,"
The Korea Herald, 20 February
2019, www.koreaherald.com/
v i e w . p h p ?
ud=20190220000684.
8 Kim Bo-gyung “[Newsmaker]
Outraged Gwangju citizens
take to National Assembly over
opposition lawmakers’
Gwangju Uprising remarks,”
The Korea Herald, 13 February(Continued on page 15)

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

Asian Human Rights Monitoring Mechanism:
Workshops for Asian Human Rights Court
Jau-hwa ChenI

n 2006, members of thePeacetime Foundation of
Taiwan visited Srinagar in
Jammu and Kashmir state tomeet the founders of anorganization working on forced
disappearances. The group,
welcomed with warm hugs by alawyer and a representative of a
victim, was informed that it was
the very first Asian group to visit
the organization. They had been
visited by groups from either
Europe or the Americas. As amember of the group, I had amixed feeling of joy and shame.
I was ashamed of myself forbeing indifferent to myneighbors’ plight.

human rights courts to ensure
the protection of human rights.
For instance, the Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms was
adopted by the newly-formed
Council of Europe on 4
November 1950. In 1959, theCouncil of Europe establishedthe European Court of Human
Rights (ECtHR) based on theConvention. Since then, theCourt has enabled individuals
t o fi l e c o m p l a i n t s a t t h etransnational ECtHR for theviolations of the Convention, as
long as they had exhausted all
possible remedies open to themunder the laws of their country.

Human Rights Mechanisms

It is worth recalling that inaddition to the joint andseparate efforts of European
governments, various proposals
concerning the founding of
human rights court in Europe
were raised by European nongovernmental organizations(NGOs). They were key actors

The regions of Europe, theAmericas and Africa haveadopted human rights
instruments such as Bill of
Rights and Human Rights
Charters and subsequently
established mechanisms such as

12in the 1948 Hague Congressthat served as a forum for
European unity. Witnessing thecontinent being ravaged by war,those actors were adamant thatpower tended to intoxicate
those in government and thatunchecked power bredtotalitarianism. They saw thenecessity of setting up atransnational body to enforce
and oversee the protection ofhuman rights.
Ta k i n g i n s p i r a t i o n f r o m
European human rights
mechanism, countries in theAmericas adopted the American
Convention on Human Rights,
also known as the Pact of San
José, on 22 November 1969.
They subsequently establishedthe Inter-American Court of
Human Rights (IACHR) on 22
May 1979 to interpret andoversee the implementation of
the Pact and to establish rules
and procedures governing cases
brought before it.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
Modelled on the European
Convention on Human Rights
and the Pact of San José, theAfrican Charter on Human andPeoples’ Rights was adopted by
African countries on 27 June
1981. The African Commission
on Human and Peoples’ Rights
was established on 2 November
1987 to oversee theimplementation of the Charter.
The African Court on Humanand Peoples’ Rights followed in
2004. Given these, Asia (andPacific) is the sole region in theworld that lacks a transnational
mechanism to advance thecause of human rights.
Asian Situation
The absence of a transnational
human rights system renders
indigenous peoples, minorities,
and disadvantaged andmarginalized groups in Asia
vulnerable to human rights
violations, abuses, anddiscrimination based on race,
ethnicity, religion, gender, andsexual orientation or otherstatus. Asian countries haveproposed remedial measures tomitigate the effects.
Non-governmentalorganizations adopted the Asian
Human Rights Charter in
Gwangju, South Korea on 17

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95
May 1998. While this Charter is
not legally binding, its content
and principles closely resemble
the core international humanrights treaties existing at that
time.
Article 16.2 of the Asian Human
Rights Charter refers to“independent commission or a
court” that would enforce ahuman rights convention; whichis also proposed to be adopted
by Asian states.1
Phrased differently, an Asian
Human Rights Court has alreadybeen proposed as a possible
human rights mechanism in
Asia.
There are peoples’ tribunals aswell as human rights courts in
Asia, functioning at both
domestic and international
levels. The Constitutional Court
Simulation (CCS) in Taiwan thatheld sessions during the
2014-2016 period is an
example. The Regional Peoples’
Tribunal (RPT), which held asession in New Delhi on 17
March 2015 to hear cases
related to Dalit human rights
violations, is another example.2
Both of them highlighted nongovernmental approaches tojustice. Another similar example
is the Permanent Peoples’
Tr i b u n a l ( P P T ) . 3
Functioning at aninternational level,
PPT takes a different
perspective bylooking at cases
mainly from theviewpoint ofinternational
criminal law andexamines charges
concerning war
crimes and crimes
against humanity.

13

From 1993 to 1995, the Asian
Women Human Rights Council4organized seven women’s court
sessions in Lahore (Pakistan),Tokyo (Japan), Bangalore (India),
Cairo (Egypt), and Manila(Philippines) on a variety ofissues: violence against women,
war crimes and female slavery,
crimes against Dalit andindigenous women, theconsequences of demographic
policies on women, thedominant system ofd e ve l o p m e n t a n d n u c l e a r
policies. The culmination ofthese initiatives was a global
public hearing in the NGO
Forum of the Fourth World
Conference on Women. 5 In
2000, the Violence Against
Women in War Network-Japano r g a n i z e d t h e W o m e n ’s
I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wa r C r i m e s
Tribunal on Japan’s Military
Sexual Slavery in Tokyo. Victims
from China, South Korea,
Taiwan and the Philippines
presented their testimonies in
the court hearing.6
Campaign for an Asian Human
Rights Court
The Chang Fo-chuan Center for
the Study of Human Rights(hereafter the Center), foundedin 2000 at Soochow University
i n Ta i p e i , 7 h a s o r g a n i z e dlectures, conferences, andseminars to facilitate exchanges
among human rights scholars,
activists and legal experts. In
close collaboration withseventeen human rights
organizations, the Center has
strived to materialize theestablishment of an Asian
Human Rights Court throughworkshops. The workshops
revealed the longing of people
in Asia for the establishment ofa regional court or tribunal forFOCUS ASIA-PACIFIC
human rights. The judgments
and recommendations of theprevious non-governmental
tribunals and courts in Asia
stimulated dialogues on humanrights violations in a simulative
fashion, and often pointed out
the sense of injustice as crucial
concern of the peoples in Asia.
A research into the types,
structures, rules, cases ofpeoples’ tribunals and humanrights courts as well as theverdicts produced is a concrete
step to pave the way for an
Asian Human Rights Court.
Conceptualizing the Asian
Human Rights Court
In order to address the key
issues in establishing an Asian
Human Rights Court, the Centeris organizing two workshops on
9-12 May 2019 and 11-14 July
2019 in coordination with four
institutes and organizations: The
Institute of Human Rights andPeace Studies (IHRP) of Mahidol
University, Thailand; ResearchCenter for Human Rights(RCHR) of Osaka City
University, Japan with which theCenter had signed amemorandum of understanding
i n 2 0 1 6 ; Fo u n d a t i o n o f
Women’s Rights Promotion andDevelopment (FWRPD),
Taiwan, and the Global Voice(GV), an international andmultilingual community of
bloggers, journalists, translators,
academics, and human rights
activists. Each workshop would
have six sessions to provoke
thoughts and discussions inconnection with the
networking, promotion andadvocacy on the establishmentof an Asian Human Rights
Court. The first workshop will
focus on the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations

MARCH 2019 VOLUME 95(ASEAN) and its human rights
declarations and conventions;while the second workshop will
f o c u s o n t h e A s i a - Pa c i fi c
Economic Cooperation (APEC),
gender and economics.
The workshops will emphasize
discussions of regional humanrights systems, peoples’
tribunals and human rights
courts in Asia, including but notlimited to CCS, RPT, PPT andother similar initiatives. The
planned topics of the six
sessions are the following:
1. Introduction of regional
human rights court
mechanisms;
2. Tribunals and courts acrossAsia;
3. Identification of humanrights cases across Asia;
4. Potential human rights cases
to be considered by the
Asian Human Rights Court;
5. Advocating Asian Human
Rights Court within the
Framework of ASEAN and
APEC; and6. Networking, promoting andadvocating the Asian
Human Rights Court.
A Vision for an Asian Human
Rights Court
An Asian Human Rights Court
should deal with human rights
violations and abuses that
happen daily at the local level.
The lack of a regional humanrights monitoring system atpresent renders the protectionof peoples’ rights inadequate
and hindered.
I remember the time when I wastravelling around Asian
countries wearing a cap witht h e wo r d s H u m a n R i g h t s

14Quarterly written on it. After
arriving at Leh, Ladakh in
Jammu and Kashmir state, I was
asked by a Tibetan hotelmanager, “Why do you advancehuman rights only quarterly, but
not EVERYDAY?” The manager
displayed an Asian humanrights sentiment we all share,
also a commitment madethrough the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
seventy years ago.
Jau-hwa Chen is the Director of
Chang Fo-chuan Center for the
Study of Human Rights andMaster Degree Program at
Soochow University, Taiwan.
For further information, pleasecontact Jau-hwa Chen at the
Chang Fo-Chuan Center for the
Study of Human Rights, 70,
Linhsi Rd., Shihlin, Taipei,
Ta i w a n 1 1 1 ; p h ( 8 8 6 - 2 )28819471 ext. 6110, 6951 or
6952; fax (886-2) 28805650; email: hrer@scu.edu.tw;w w w. s c u . e d u . t w / h r,
www.scu.edu.tw/hrp.

Endnotes
1 Our Common Humanity - AsianH u m a n R i g h t s C h a r t e r,
www.hurights.or.jp/archives/o t h e r _ d o c u m e n t s /section1/1998/03/our-commonhumanity---asian-human-rightscharter.html.
2 For more details, see Press
Release - Regional Peoples’
Tribunal - Dalit Human Rights
in South Asia, https://idsn.org/
wp-content/uploads/2016/04/
Press-Release-Regional-PeoplesTribunal-NCDHR.pdf.
3 For more information on the
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
(PPT)
see
http://
permanentpeoplestribunal.org/?
lang=en.

FOCUS ASIA-PACIFICMARCH 2019 VOLUME 95

4 See Odile Albert, “Women’s
Courts in Asia,” dialogues,
proposals, stories for global
citizenship, May 1996, http://b a s e . d - p - h . i n f o / e n / fi c h e s /p r e m i e r d p h / fi c h e premierdph-5563.html. Seealso, "South East Asia's first"Women's Court" on trafficking
and HIV," United Nations Officeon Drugs and Crime,w w w . u n o d c . o r g /southeastasiaandpacific/en/
2009/08/UNDP-WOMEN/
south-east-asias-first-womensc o u r t - o n - t r a f fi c k i n g - a n d hiv.html.
5 Albert, ibid.
6 For a discussion of the Tokyo
Tribunal see Eddy Van Drom,“Assessment of the 2000 Tokyo
Wome's International War
Crimes Tribunal on Japan's
M i l i t a r y S e x u a l S l av e r y,”available at JapaneseInstitutional Repositories
Online, http://jairo.nii.ac.jp/0337/00000311/en.
7 The Center set up a humanrights program at theundergraduate level in 2004 toprovide training for humanrights advocates. Designed forstudents from diverse
disciplines and backgrounds,
this program not only offered aninterdisciplinary approach tohuman rights but alsocollaborated with organizations
that had developed strategies

and tactics for human rights
activism. In 2008, the Center set
up a two-year MA program in
human rights, the very first
Master’s degree in human rights
in Taiwan. Interdisciplinary inscope and based upon theestablished undergraduate
program, this MA program hashelped students become
theoretically informed while
equipping them withknowledge and skills to
conduct innovative researchand establish local and/or
r e g i o n a l n e t wo r k s a m o n gvarious rights groups.

The Long Journey of the
Hansen’s Disease Recoverers

Museum, www.hansen-dis.jp/
english/01int/greeting.
3 See Kyodo, “State must pay
Hansen's patients,” The JapanTi m e s , 1 2 M ay 2 0 0 1 ,www.japantimes.co.jp/news/
2001/05/12/national/statemust-pay-hansens-patients/#.XGNoxbhS8dU.

4 See Zen-Kan-Kyo, History of
Zen-Kan-Kyo : A Documentaryon the Struggle of the Hansen’s
D i s e a s e Pa t i e n t s , I k k o
Publisher, 1977, and Days of
Rehabilitation: A Documentaryof the Struggle of Hansen’s
D i s e a s e Pa t i e n t s , K o y oPublisher, 2001 (both inJapanese) .

Korea,” The Korea Herald, 18
February2019,
w w w. k o r e a h e r a l d . c o m /v i e w . p h p ?
ud=20190218000645&fbclid=I
wAR0MA_08bvWXCCzsGWuJ
m e T g - A S f hHH9gutZllItGaZGbi96yxFAO_Y2cM#cb.
12 Praveen’s Webspace, “Chun isAbsent Again at Gwangju High
Court,” 8 January 2019, https://
iprav33n.com/2019/01/08/
while-attending-former-prezchuns-defamation-trial-atgwangju-high-court/.
13 “Top court orders ex-President
Chun to be tried in Gwangju in
defamation case,” Yonhap
News Agency, 30 November
2018, https://en.yna.co.kr/
v
i
e
w
/
AEN20181130004400325.

14 The Korea Times, op. cit.
15 "Tim Sherrock’s Tweet," https://twitter.com/TimothyS/status/
1096182867619692544.
Accessed on 18 February 2019.
16 See petition at the website ofCheongWa
Dae,
www1.president.go.kr/petitions/
5
2
0
9
8
7
?
fbclid=IwAR2kGRyR9co1Oifj3
ZdoLt93uKsfW4YyyRzhm5aSYrQMWvxnY6V5zpX1o4.
17 There is also the view that the
Gwangju Uprising has roots inthe "authoritarianism of theR e p u b l i c o f Ko r e a ’s fi r s t
president, the anticommunist
Syngman RheeChong-suk
Han," "Kwangju Uprising S o u t h K o r e a n h i s t o r y, "E n cy c l o p e d i a B r i t a n n i c a ,https://www.britannica.com/
event/Kwangju-Uprising.

(Continued from page 5)
www.niid.go.jp/niid/ja/leprosym/1841-lrc/1707-expert.html(Browsed on 8 February 2019).
2 For further information, see
National Hansen’s Disease

Continuous Distortion of the
May 18 Uprising in South
Korea(Continued from page 11)
2019, www.koreaherald.com/
v i e w . p h p ?
ud=20190213000675.
9 Kim Bo-gyung, ibid.
10 See Lee Kyung-mi and Song
Gyung-hwa, "LPK recommends
far-right figures to Gwangju
U p r i s i n g Fa c t - Fi n d i n g
Commission," Hankyoreh, 15January 2019, http://
english.hani.co.kr/arti/
english_edition/e_national/
878505.html.
11 Choi He-suk, “Moon accuses
Gwangju Uprising deniers ofundermining foundations of15

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HURIGHTS OSAKA, inspired by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formally opened in December 1994. lt has the following goals: 1) to promote human rights
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