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An English version of a collection of journalists' accounts of the 1980 Kwangju pro-democracy movement has been published to mark the 20th anniversary of the event, in which over 200 civilians were killed in a bloody crackdown by the then military junta.

President Kim Dae-jung, who was sentenced to death by the military regime in the wake of the movement, wrote the foreword to the 240-page work. The book was published by M. E. Sharpe in the United States and United Kingdom.

Titled "The Kwangju Uprising: Eyewitness Press Accounts of Korea's Tiananmen," the book is part of a series that also include accounts of the Vietnam War and the Nanjing massacre.

Nineteen foreign and Korean journalists contributed articles to The Kwangju Uprising, which also contains maps and photos depicting the chaotic situation in May 1980.

President Kim said in the foreword that he learned about the Kwangju Movement in a prison cell and lost consciousness on the spot. He said that he wept continuously and was weighed down with shame due to his powerlessness.

"However, the examples of the victims of this outrage gave me the strength to refuse the generals' enticing offer of mercy in return for my cooperation," Kim said.

He said that the Kwangju Movement was portrayed by the then authorities as "rioting" and that Kwangju citizens were depicted as "hooligans" by the press, which was under strict army censorship.

"Yet justice was done eventually. The name of Kwangju stands as a symbol of justice for the oppressed," Kim said.

"''Traitor' that I once was, I now serve as President of the Republic of Korea - an honor I would like to share with the citizens of Kwangju," Kim said. (CSY)