Under the Kim Young-sam administration, there was a movement to make May 18th National Cemetery a democratic shrine.

[5][6] Due to the cemetery's reputation as a Mangweol-dong, a "holy ground for democracy", the military had plans to destroy the graveyard.

Equating 'new' with 'official' and 'old' with 'unofficial' serve to influence popular conception of the significance of the different actors involved in the uprising, their place in history, their ideologies and their legacies.

[15] The Memorial Hall allows visitors to view and interactively experience the events of the May 18th Democratic Uprising.

The exhibition includes a historical record of the Uprising, tributes to victims, a virtual tour of important landmarks in the democratic movement, and facilities for educational presentations.

[16] This building is designed in the form of a dolmen, a traditional tomb dating to the prehistoric period.

[15] A memorial hill planted with "Trees of Democracy" representing "the will of all Korean people to commemorate the noble sacrifice" of Uprising participants.