Barbara Peterson (second from left) and Martha Huntley (center) attended a ceremony commemorating the 38th anniversary of the May 18 Democratization Movement at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju last year. On the right is Edeltraut Bramstedt, widow of Jürgen Hinzpeter. Yonhap News

On February 21, Martha Huntley, the widow of the late Rev. Charles Betts Huntley, and Barbara Peterson, the widow of the late Rev. Arnold Peterson, sent a letter to Moon Hee-sang, chairman of the National Assembly, fiercely criticizing the Liberty Korea Party lawmakers who voiced disrespectful comments on the May 18 Gwangju Uprising. Charles Huntley and Arnold Peterson were missionaries who documented and informed the world of the atrocities that took place in Gwangju at the time of the uprising. In the letter, the two women wrote that they did not want to see something like the denial of the Holocaust take place in South Korea and demanded serious disciplinary measures against the lawmakers, such as having them removed from the National Assembly.

The letter, which the Kyunghyang Shinmunreceived this day, included criticism of the disrespectful comments by lawmakers Kim Jin-tae, Kim Soon-rye, and Lee Jong-myeong along with the two women's deep concerns that such comments came from lawmakers.

They wrote, "To this day, there are people who deny the Holocaust ever occurred--their denials would wipe away the reality of the suffering and loss of millions of people to the world, and the truth of history itself. We would hate to see the same thing happen in South Korea, if these May 18 deniers of the truth are allowed to speak lies in the face of actual, historical reality."

The two women continued, "Now we hear that in a public hearing held at the National Assembly on Feb. 8, three lawmakers of the Liberty Korea Party joined a far right figure portraying the May 18 uprising as a putsch instigated by 600 North Korean provocateurs--which is blatantly false." They added, "What these three lawmakers said was false, and very hurtful to the people of Gwangju and the Chullas (Jeolla-do region), and to the nation of South Korea as well." The women asked that the three lawmakers either be "rebuked if not removed," so that the people could trust the National Assembly. They argued that democracy must be based on truth, and stressed that the people needed to trust that the lawmakers whom they elected knew the truth, spoke the truth and acted according to the truth.

Barbara Peterson meets the families of the victims at the ceremony commemorating the 38th anniversary of the May 18th Democratic Movement at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju last year. Yonhap News

Martha Huntley makes a commemorative speech during the ceremony commemorating the 38th anniversary of the May 18th Democratization movement at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju last year. Kim Young-min

The women, who introduced themselves as American citizens who lived in South Korea from 1965 to 1991, also recalled the situation at the time of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. They mentioned that they were present during the entire period of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, and wrote, "It was not an organized movement--it was an illicit assault upon our city of 800,000 people by military forces under the control of Chun Doo-hwan." They mentioned how the picture of the helicopter shooting taken by Rev. Arnold Peterson and the picture of countless victims transported to Gwangju Christian Hospital taken by Rev. Charles Huntley had been presented in the trial of Chun Doo-hwan, and emphasized that they knew what happened in Gwangju at the time. They added, "We were eye-witnesses, and we recorded what we saw and experienced."

The women said that the citizens of Gwangju always had a special place in the hearts of the late pastors and that the people would forever remain in the hearts of the women as well. They also shared their affection for South Korea. They ended the letter by expressing their appreciation for the time they spent in the country and for the chance to witness the unwarranted violence in Gwangju and to help the people.

Barbara Peterson, Martha Huntley and Edeltraut Bramstedt (widow of Jürgen Hinzpeter) attending a ceremony commemorating the 38th anniversary of the May 18 Democratization Movement at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju last year. Yonhap News

Reverend Huntley worked at the Gwangju Christian Hospital in 1980. He took pictures of the injured and deceased citizens at the hospital, printed them at home, and sent the pictures overseas through acquaintances. He delivered the pictures to Jürgen Hinzpeter of ARD-NDR, a
German public broadcasting station, and played a critical role in telling the world about the truth.

Reverend Peterson refused the U.S. military's suggestion to evacuate at the time of the May 18 uprising and remained in Gwangju and recorded the incident. In 1994, he published his recordings into a book titled, 5-18, The Kwangju Incident. Rev. Huntley died in 2017 and Rev. Peterson died in 2015.

Mrs. Huntley sent the letter to the official e-mail account of Chairman Moon this day and also sent a letter with her personal signature via airmail. The following is the full text of the letter that the two women sent to the National Assembly chairman.

<김한솔 기자 hansol@kyunghyang.com>