5·18 광주 민주화 운동
Song Gisuk was born on July 5, 1935 in Changhung Jeollanam-do, Korea. Song graduated with an M.A. from Chonnam University in Korea in 1961, and an M.A. from the same university, also in Korean, in 1964. Song worked as a professor at Chonnam National University and was arrested for writing the Declaration of the Democratization of Education. While he was eventually released, he was dismissed from his professorship. In 1980 Song was arrested again for being involved in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, and released the following year. He then worked as a professor of Korean Literature at Chonnam.