[9] Prior to the uprising, at the end of 1979, the coup d'état of May Seventeenth resulted in the installation of Chun Doo-hwan as military dictator and the implementation of martial law.

Following his ascent to power, Chun arrested opposition leaders, closed all universities, banned political activities, and suppressed the press.

The uprising began when Chonnam National University students demonstrating against martial law were fired upon, killed, beaten and tortured by the South Korean military.

[23] On 17 May 1980, Chun forced the Cabinet to extend martial law to the whole country and in the process closed universities, banned political activities, and further curtailed the press.

To enforce martial law, troops were dispatched to the country's main cities, including Gwangju, the provincial capital of South Jeolla Province.

The same day, the DSC raided a national conference of student union leaders who had gathered to discuss their plans following the 15 May demonstration.

Twenty-six politicians, including opposition leader and future president Kim Dae-jung were also arrested on charges of instigating protests.

Gwangju was at the center of anti-government and pro-democracy demonstrations, as Kim Dae-jung was born in South Jeolla Province and over the years, build his political base there.

Jeolla had historically been the target of exploitation because of its abundant natural resources[24] and the region was associated with political dissent and liberal activism.

Sometime around 10 a.m., the soldiers charged against the students, moving the protest to downtown Gwangju, in front of the South Jeolla Province Provincial Office.

Although local police had initially handled the protests, by 4 pm, paratroopers from the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command (ROK-SWC) took over.

Some time around 1 p.m., the army fired on a crowd that had gathered in front of the South Jeolla Provincial Office building, causing numerous casualties.

In response, some protesters raided the Reserve Force armories and police stations in nearby towns, arming themselves with M1 rifles and M1/M2 carbines.

On 24 May, two teenage boys, Jeon Jae-su[33] and Bang Gwang-beom,[34] attempted to swim across the Wonje reservoir, but the 11th Airborne Brigade Troopers opened fire and killed them.

[36] Troops from the 11th Airborne Brigade indiscriminately murdered unarmed civilians and residents near the village in Songam-dong and plundered nearby stores.

[37] Martial Law Command misinterpreted friendly fire at Songam-dong as the work of insurgents within the army, as the Airborne Brigade Troopers were using a different communications channel.

The former was composed of about 20 preachers, lawyers, and professors and negotiated with the army, demanding the release of arrested citizens, compensation for victims, and the prohibition of retaliation in exchange for the disarmament of militias.

The latter committee was formed by university students and took charge of funerals, public campaigns, traffic control, withdrawal of weapons, and medical aid.

Following news of the imminent attack, civil militias gathered in the Provincial Office and made preparations to make a last stand.

The soldiers disguised themselves with flak vests, leaf camouflage helmets with white bands, and ordinary army infantryman combat uniforms that were missing insignias and patches.

[27][41] The National Security Headquarters initially dealt with the protests, but were soon supplemented by paratroopers from the 7th Airborne Brigade, before being fully taken over and ordered to evacuate to allow the army.

Chun Doo-hwan, who was already unpopular because of his military coup, faced threats to his legitimacy following the dispatch of Special Forces paratroopers against demonstrators in Gwangju.

Communications intercepts uncovered that the North Korean leadership intended to intervene should the protests develop into a nationwide popular revolt and South Korea be engulfed in revolution, but would remain neutral otherwise.

U.S. officials came to the conclusion that the Gwangju protests were an indigenous uprising orchestrated without any foreign involvement, but needed to be put down for domestic and international stability.

[59] The 1980s marked a surge in Anti-American sentiment in Korea, widely traced to the United States' support for Chun's government and its involvement in the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising.

[63][64][65] At the Mangwol-dong cemetery in Gwangju, survivors of the demonstrations and bereaved families have held an annual memorial service, called the May Movement, on the anniversary of the massacre.

[68] In February 2018, it was revealed for the first time that the army had used McDonnell Douglas MD 500 Defender and Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters to fire on civilians.

[69][70] On 7 November 2018, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo issued another apology for the South Korean military's role in suppressing the uprising and acknowledged that soldiers had engaged in acts of sexual violence during the crackdown.

[76] With its new three-fifths majority in the National Assembly, the Democratic Party implemented a series of reforms in December 2020, including revisions to the May 18 Special Act to penalize those involved in making false claims about the Gwangju Uprising.

[80] The released documents showed that Gleysteen expressed Washington's concerns over growing anti-American sentiment in the Gwangju area, amid broadcasts asserting that the U.S. was involved in the military crackdown.