A powerful new memoir ‘Witnessing Gwangju’ was released this month to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising. The book’s author, former American Peace Corps volunteer Paul Courtright, was one of only a handful of foreign witnesses to this pivotal event in modern South Korean history. On episode 93 of The Korea File, he joins host Andre Goulet to explore how his simple rural life of living and treating patients in the South Jeolla leprosy village of Hohyewan in May, 1980 collided with the Korean people’s struggle against dictatorship.

Find the book at https://www.hollym.com/product/witnessing-gwangju/

Listen to ‘A March of the Beloved: The May 18 Democratization Revolution Song’
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=droIt4Gam_4

Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/thekoreafile

This conversation was recorded on May 22nd, 2020.