South Korea's top defense chief has offered the first official apology for the military's brutal use of force against the pro-democracy protesters almost 40 years ago.
Song Young-moo said on Friday that his ministry will do its best to introduce special legislation on the Gwangju incident, promising to take "legal and systemic" measures to prevent the military getting in the way of politics.


"As the minister of National Defense, I offer a sincere apology and a word of comfort to the people of Gwangju,.. that our military caused suffering in the process of the May 18 Democratization Movement 38-years ago."

The apology came just two days after the ministry's special task force assigned to look into suspicions about the military's role during the Gwangju democratization movement.
The government committee revealed that fighter jets and Marines were put on alert for dispatch to the southern city by a *martial law command established by then-former President Chun Doo-hwan, who took power through a coup in 1979.