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Gwangju

Former city in South Korea

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Montage of various Gwangju images
ASDFGHJ ( talk ) · CC BY-SA 2.0

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Gwangju was the sixth-largest metropolis in the country. It was a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until its promotion to a metropolitan city in 2005, upon which the provincial office moved to the southern village of Namak in Muan County.

Its name is composed of the words gwang (Korean: 광; Hanja: 光) meaning "light" and ju (주; 州) meaning "province". Gwangju was historically recorded as Muju (무주; 武州), in which "Silla merged all of the land to establish the provinces of Gwangju, Ungju, Jeonju, Muju and various counties, plus the southern boundary of Goguryeo and the ancient territories of Silla" in the Samguk sagi. In the heart of the agricultural Jeolla region, the city is also famous for its rich and diverse cuisine.

History

The city was established in 57 BC. It was one of the administrative centers of Baekje during the Three Kingdoms period.

During the Japanese colonial period, the city was known as Kōshū. On 30 October 1929, a confrontation between Korean and Japanese students at Naju Station, near Gwangju, became the immediate catalyst for the Gwangju Student Independence Movement, which began in Gwangju on 3 November and later spread throughout Korea.

Modern industry was established in Gwangju, and a railway to Seoul was constructed. Some industries that took hold include cotton textiles, rice mills, and breweries. The construction of a designated industrial zone in 1967 encouraged growth in industry, especially in the sectors linked to the automobile industry.

In May 1980, peaceful demonstrations took place in Gwangju against Chun Doo-hwan, leader of the military coup d'état of 12 December 1979. The demonstrations were suppressed by military forces, including elite units of the Special Operations Command. The situation escalated after a violent crackdown, resulting in the Gwangju Uprising, where civilians raided armories and armed themselves. By the time the uprising was suppressed 9 days later, many hundreds of civilians and several police forces/soldiers were dead. After civilian rule was reinstated in 1987, a national cemetery was established to honor the victims of the incident.

In 1986, Gwangju separated from South Jeolla Province to become a Directly Governed City (Jikhalsi), and then became a Metropolitan City (Gwangyeoksi) in 1995.

Due to a variety of factors, including the ancient rivalry between Baekje and Silla, as well as the biased priority given to the Gyeongsang Province region by political leaders in the 2nd half of the 20th century, Gwangju has a long history of voting for left-leaning politicians and is the main stronghold for the liberal Democratic Party of Korea along with its predecessors, as well as the progressive Justice Party.

Gwangju has held many sports events such as the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 2015 Summer Universiade, and the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

In July 2026, the city was dissolved and merged with the former territory of South Jeolla Province into a new provincial-level city called Jeonnam-Gwangju.

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