The Unidentified Soldier: The Enduring Mystery of 'Kim Gun' from the Gwangju Uprising

In Gwangju Park, a monument stands for 'Kim Gun,' an unidentified citizen soldier from the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. The "May 18th Trail," a 66.2km walking path tracing the uprising's history, includes this site. The monument, erected in 2020 for the uprising's 40th anniversary, honors the citizen soldiers who disappeared without a name.

The figure of 'Kim Gun' gained prominence through the 2018 documentary "Kim Gun." The film investigated a man who appeared in seven different photographs taken during the uprising, making him the most famous unknown figure of the event. He was seen in a police vehicle, wearing a helmet with "Release Kim Gun" written on it.

This pursuit of identity led to controversy. Ji Man-won, a proponent of the theory that North Korean soldiers infiltrated the uprising, identified the man in the photo as "Kwangsu No. 1," a North Korean special forces operative. He claimed geometric analysis proved the man was identical to individuals in photos from Pyongyang.

However, the documentary's director, Kang Sang-woo, noted that interviews with survivors revealed a different narrative, one that challenged the simplistic portrayal of the democratization movement. The film ultimately did not identify 'Kim Gun,' but a survivor, Choi Jin-su, recounted that soldiers shot and killed the young man in the Gwangju outskirts on May 24, 1980, after an accidental friendly fire incident. His body was then taken away and never recovered.

In May 2022, the 5·18 Investigation Committee announced that Cha Bok-hwan was the person in the photograph. Cha, who had joined the citizen army briefly before returning home due to family concerns, revealed he had lived in hiding about his participation. The committee also identified another individual, a lacquerware craftsman named Kim Jong-cheol, as the person initially thought to be 'Kim Gun.' Despite these findings, Choi Jin-su and others maintain their account of 'Kim Gun's' death differs from the committee's findings, insisting a different 'Kim Gun' still needs to be found.