This was my initial post for the online database of the 4,000 declassified US government documents obtained under FOIA on the US role in the Gwangju Uprising of 1980. The list includes many of the key documents first reported in my initial 1996 stories on the US role in South Korea in 1979 and 1980. These were obtained between 1996 and 2006, when a few of my original documents were fully declassified (thanks to the National Security Archive for its help on that).
Chun Doo Hwan’s Special Forces descend on Gwangju, May 18, 1980.
State FOIA#1 — November 1979 — Secretary of State Vance meets South Korean Foreign Minister after the Park Assassination
State FOIA#2 — November 1979 – Secretary of State Vance meets South Korean acting President after the Park Assassination
State FOIA#3 — December 1979 – Richard Holbrooke on the December 12 Incident
State FOIA#4 – December 1979 — NODIS/Cherokee Richard Holbrooke on Dec. 12 Incident
State FOIA#5 – March 1980 – Gleysteen analysis of South Korean political situation
State FOIA #6 — May 1980 — NODIS/Cherokee US Generals Intervene in South Korea
State FOIA#7 – May 1980 – NODIS/Cherokee Gleysteen meets Chun just before May 1980 crackdown
State FOIA#8 – May 1980 — NODIS/Cherokee Gleysteen meets with Blue House just before the May 17 coup
State FOIA#9 – June 1980 — NODIS/Cherokee Gleysteen meets with the Blue House after Kwangju
CIA FOIA#1 – June 1979 – SECRET – “The Outlook for President Pak and South Korea’s Dissidents.”
Holbrooke – “Nobody wants another Iran” – Dec. 3 1979
CHEROKEE FILES Carter letter January 1980
CHEROKEE FILES Establishment of Korea Series November 1979
CHEROKEE FILES December 1979 Holbrooke’s “delicate operation”
NODIS CHEROKEE – Christopher – May 8 1980
CHEROKEE FILES White House NSC meeting on Kwangju May 22, 1980
