Trauma Treatment Center for State Violence Victims Opens in Gwangju

Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung (L-R) and Vice Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong tour the physical therapy room at a national trauma treatment center for victims of state violence using the former Armed Forces Gwangju Hospital in western Gwangju on July 1, 2024. (Yonhap)

GWANGJU, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) – A national trauma treatment center began operations Monday for victims of state violence in the southwestern city of Gwangju, the site of the bloody crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising.

The establishment of the state violence trauma treatment center follows four years of pilot projects conducted since 2020, aimed at supporting victims of atrocities committed by state entities.

Gwangju has been selected to host the treatment center due to its symbolic significance as the site of the bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising in 1980, which left hundreds of residents dead.

The Jeju 4.3 Trauma Center has been transformed into the Jeju branch of the National Trauma Treatment Center for Victims of State Violence since May. (Image courtesy of 4.3 Trauma Center in Jeju)

Also on Monday, a regional branch of the center opened on the southern island of Jeju, where residents rose up in the 1940s against U.S. military-led rule, resulting in the massacre of more than 14,000 civilians.

With a 13-member staff, the Gwangju center will provide mental and psychological treatment, counseling and other relief programs for victims of national violence, as well as assaults by anti-state forces and international terrorism, and their families.

“The national trauma treatment center was established in Gwangju to console and relieve the wounds and pain experienced by residents during the May 18 (uprising),” Vice Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong said at an opening ceremony.

“The government will strive for the unity of our society by paying attention to not just the mental but also social treatment of victims,” Ko said.