People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo paid a visit to the National May 18th Memorial in Gwangju on the morning of the 17th, one day before the May 18th anniversary.
Candidate Kim visited the National May 18th Memorial in Unjeong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, to lay flowers. In the guestbook, he wrote, "Democracy written in the blood of May Gwangju." He also visited the graves of Martyrs Park Gi-soon and Yoon Sang-won, who inspired the song "March for the Beloved," as well as the graves of martyr Park Kwan-hyun and unknown martyrs.
He shed tears at the grave of Martyr Park. Park was arrested in April 1982 by the new military regime on charges of engaging in important duties related to insurrection and was tortured before being imprisoned in Gwangju Prison, where he died after a 50-day hunger strike. Candidate Kim was also imprisoned after leading the struggle for direct election constitutional reform in 1986 and spent 10 months in the same solitary confinement that Martyr Park had occupied before being released as part of a special pardon on National Foundation Day.
Candidate Kim, while crying, said, "I was imprisoned in the room of Martyr Park Kwan-hyun. After Martyr Park Kwan-hyun died, I entered and lived there for a year. Martyr Park's sister is still alive and visits every year. It brings back such painful memories."
Meanwhile, on the same day, around 50 local organizations, including the Gwangju Jeonnam Candlelight Action and unions from the railway, metal, and home appliance service sectors in Gwangju, held a protest at the main gate of the May 18th cemetery in opposition to Kim's visit. They shouted slogans such as, "Insurrection forces, leave Gwangju immediately" and "Let's eliminate insurrection forces and build a democratic government." Candidate Kim left the site by vehicle through a side entrance to avoid them.
On the eve of the 45th anniversary of the May 18th Gwangju Democratization Movement, Candidate Kim is visiting the Honam region, including Gwangju and Jeonju. Initially, he planned to attend both the May 18th commemoration ceremony and the pre-event being held on that day in Gwangju, but his schedule was changed to only visit Gwangju in the morning.
Political circles believe that the reason for changing Kim's schedule for the Gwangju visit was the cancellation of the appointment of former Defense Minister Jeong Ho-yong, who commanded the suppression operation during the May 18th Democratization Movement, as a senior adviser to the campaign committee on the 14th. Candidate Kim's camp has reportedly received a de facto refusal to attend from the organizers of the May 18th pre-event, who asked him to "consider participating."