ABSTRACT
I was in Japan on the morning of Monday, May 19, 1980, when I heard the first news of an uprising in Kwangju. My immediate thought was to inform the ARD-NDR German TV Hamburg News Center. Unfortunately our studio chief was out of the office, the decision was left up to me in this important situation. I knew that I had to cover the story. The news out of South Korea was sparse indeed. The government had declared a full-blooded extension of martial law, to cover the entire nation. The military authorities were censoring the press, line by line, claiming that there was a risk of "political instability." The information blackout heightened my curiosity. I telephoned hither and thither. I finally managed to make some direct contact in Korea. The situation was escalating. There had been student deaths, and there were ongoing clashes between groups of students and soldiers. I phoned our News Center in Hamburg once more to receive approval to commute from Japan to Korea that very day. We agreed that I should leave Japan for Korea as soon as possible.
