Paratroopers put down a citizens' insurrection
As 6,000 people gathered for a peaceful rally in the main square of the provincial capital of Kwangju last week, two gleaming South Korean air force jets arced across the city, made several passes over the demonstrators, then disappeared. The reconnaissance flyover was the first signal that South Korea's military was preparing to break the rebel seizure of Kwangju. For nine days the city had been under the control of some 200 dissident students who had led a full-scale citizens' insurrection, seizing all government buildings and most police stations. For nine days, several thousand troops...