Recent News

I mentioned in my first post that my dad wrote a book which led to his testifying before Korean congress about the atrocities that he and my mother witnessed. I think I will take some time while on the plane to Korea to try and explain a little more about what happened in Gwangju from my family's perspective. I am not a very confrontational person or a political person. I don't really like those aspects of life, and I really don't like my own personality in those areas, so I generally avoid them. Thus, when writing the first post, my younger daughter asked why I wrote some things a certain way and why I didn't include some other things. I told her I didn't want to be offensive. Aubrey pointed out that the entire Gwangju situation was offensive, violent, and political. She was correct. You can't avoid that without dishonoring the people who lived through it and those who lost their lives because of it. There are times when my children's wisdom amazes me.


When the people of Gwangju began peacefully (emphasis on peacefully) demonstrating for free and democratic elections, General Chun decided to pull troops from the DMZ, which is the border between North and South Korea. These troops were specifically trained for war, not for crowd control. Shamefully, it has been discovered in the meeting notes of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, through Freedom of Information Act requests in the early 2000's, that the U.S. government allowed this to happen because they were apparently more concerned about Chun's lies that North Korean Communist agitators were the issue in Gwangju. I have always respected President Carter, and this information really doesn't sit well with me.

One of the things that dad put in his book, and later told congress, was that troops were firing out of helicopters into crowds of people. The government of Korea had denied these reports from their own people for years. The cover of dad's book had a picture of a helicopter over Gwangju with what appears to be a muzzle flash coming out of it. This is one reason why dad was asked to testify as to what he observed and experienced. The Korean congressional committee found dad's testimony to be credible, partly because he really wasn't getting anything out of it personally. The former government leaders continued to deny any helicopter shootings but it was confirmed as true. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2018/02/356_243758.html


In recent years, the Gwangju People's Uprising and former President Chun Doo Hwan have been in the news in South Korea. It started with Chun releasing his memoires, in which he calls my father a liar and something like "Satan wearing the mask of a cleric." I found it strange that he would call my father out. Chun to me is a name of some guy that I never met and never will. But attacking my dad's integrity after my father passed away was definitely upsetting. This has led to phone interviews with my mom and the Korean Press, new investigations of what happened in Korea and new interest in my mom and dad's experiences. My younger brother Chris wrote an open letter to Mr. Chun after the news of his slandering my father was released. I think he did a great job. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170507000365.

There is also a Korean language movie subtitled in English titled Taxi Driver, not to be confused with the American movie, The Taxi Driver. Taxi Driver is based on the true story of a German reporter who took a taxi from Seoul to Gwangju to find out what was going on. It is a compelling movie and was hard for me to watch knowing that it was happening at the same time my dad, Uncle Betts Huntley, and Uncle John Underwood were still in town. You can watch the movie preview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbUwOP9HZQk.

There are many other links I could post, but that would take up too much of your time. I will stop today by posting a nice article that was written announcing the Huntley's and our return to Korea. It mentions the Huntley's, whom we love as family, the German reporter mentioned above, and our family. We feel honored that the Korean people still remember Dad. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/04/356_247115.html