Photo/Illutration Tadaomi Saito, left, and Katsuo Aoi, right, relax with a South Korean assistant at an inn while covering the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980. (Provided by Masae Saito)

A photograph held in private hands for 40 years shows two Asahi Shimbun reporters relaxing in a candle-lit room at an inn in the South Korean city of Gwangju while covering a popular uprising that left at least 300 dead or missing.

The image, provided by the widow of one of the reporters, offers a fascinating snapshot of the journalists who risked their lives to sneak into the blockaded southwestern city to report on the historic events unfolding there.

The Gwangju Uprising of May 1980 was triggered by a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators by government troops.

The photo shows the late Tadaomi Saito, a City News Section reporter, and the late Katsuo Aoi, a Photo Center staffer, sharing a well-earned break from the action with a South Korean assistant before venturing back into the chaotic streets to cover scenes that shocked the world.

It was originally given by Aoi to Saito’s wife Masae, now 72 and a resident of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, after her husband died in 2014 at age 71. She recalled that Aoi told her that he and Saito had shared the same fate.

Saito and Aoi, who were working at The Asahi Shimbun’s Osaka headquarters, were visiting South Korea as part of a trip to write a feature story for the evening edition.

Chun Doo-hwan, the de facto ruler of South Korea at the time, expanded a martial law declaration nationwide to deal with pro-democracy demonstrators.

The reporters were informed by the Seoul Bureau chief that disturbing events were unfolding in Gwangju and took a bus and taxi to reach the city.

South Korean media were carrying an army statement that the protest movement was a civil commotion caused by students and citizens who turned riotous.

Saito interviewed people at a hospital packed with injured people. His report was published on the front page of the morning edition of May 24, 1980.

According to Saito’s memoirs, the pair remained in Gwangju for several days until they left the city to file a story, even though the owner of the inn told them that there was no guarantee they would be safe.

The reporters took mountain trails to get around checkpoints and pleaded with a farmer to take them in his small truck to Seoul.

Masae said she was unaware her husband had entered Gwangju until a colleague called to inform her that his story would appear on the front page the following day.

The 2017 movie “A Taxi Driver,” based on a German journalist’s experiences covering the Gwangju Uprising with a taxi driver who helped him, proved to be a big hit in South Korea and helped focus on the activities of foreign reporters.

Saito’s report is also displayed at an archive in Gwangju.

“When I think back now, I can’t believe he came back in one piece,” Masae said. “From the picture, I can feel the remnants of my husband who had always dedicated everything to his work.”

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