Gwangju Songjeong Station, the gateway to Gwangju where the Honam Line KTX stops, handles an average of more than 20,000 passengers a day. The eight-lane road in front of the station leads to the city center. The eastern end of the 12㎞-long road reaches ‘Geumnam-ro’, where during the May 18 Democratization Movement in 1980, citizens confronted the armed martial law forces. In 2009 this road was designated ‘Sangmu-daero’.

‘Sangmu’ is the same ‘Sangmu’ as in the final suppression operation by the martial law forces that brutally crushed the citizens of Gwangju during May 18, the ‘Sangmu Chungjeong Operation’. Sangmu is a term derived from the military unit ‘Sangmu Base’ that commanded the martial law troops deployed to Gwangju. Although 46 years have passed since the operation by the martial law forces in which airborne troops massacred citizens at the former South Jeolla Provincial Office, the name has been fixed as that of a road that runs through Gwangju, a city that champions ‘democracy·human rights·peace’.

According to a full survey by Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 14th, a total of 38 public institutions and public facilities in Gwangju use the name ‘Sangmu’, which was the title of the military unit that conducted and directed the martial law suppression operation. They include 5 schools, 6 administrative agencies, 4 public facilities, 2 parks, 4 transportation-related sites, 13 road names, 1 bridge, and 3 intersections.

‘Sangmu Base’, which means ‘a place of learning that venerates the martial’, was the nickname for the Army ‘Combat Arms Education Command’ (Jeongyosa) that was stationed in the Chipyeong-dong area of Seo District, Gwangju, in 1980. During May 18, it was in charge of the ‘Jeonnam-Jeonbuk Martial Law Sub-Office’ established by the new military regime as part of the ‘emergency martial law’ measure.

Sangmu Base held operational control over the three airborne brigades deployed to Gwangju and the 20th and 31st Divisions within the chain of command ‘Martial Law Command (Army Headquarters)→2nd Army Command→Martial Law Branch (Combat Arms Education Command)’.

On May 26, 1980, Martial Law Commander Lee Hee-seong issued the ‘Army Headquarters Operational Guidelines’ to the Combat Arms Education Command and ordered it to suppress the old South Jeolla Provincial Office. In this document directing that the provincial office suppression operation be carried out under the responsibility of the commandant, the martial law forces officially used the designation ‘Sangmu Chungjeong Operation’.

Professor Kim Hee-song of the Chonnam National University May 18 Research Institute said, “At the time, the military referred to its deployment to suppress civilian unrest as a ‘Chungjeong Operation’. The Sangmu Chungjeong Operation means ‘a suppression operation led by the Sangmu Base’,” adding, “It is clear that the name ‘Sangmu’ was the title of the operation by the martial law forces that massacred the citizens of Gwangju.”

The entire Sangmu Base unit relocated to Jangseong, South Jeolla, in 1994. Although 32 years have passed since the military unit left, the name ‘Sangmu’ is still appearing throughout downtown Gwangju. Among local governments nationwide, Gwangju is the only place that uses a military unit name this extensively for the names of public facilities and public institutions.