South Korean Political History

• Every Korean republic until the one elected in 1992 under Kim Young Sam, began or ended in massive uprisings or military coups.
• The longest Republic, the Third Republic under Park Chung-hee (1961–79), began with a coup and ended with his murder.
• The next-longest Republic, under Chun Doo-hwan (1980–87), began and ended with popular rebellions.
• Bruce Cumings notes the enduring Korean struggle makes it deserving of democracy.

The April Revolution (1960)

• Syngman Rhee (이승만; 1948-60) used totalitarian tactics according to CIA, like stringent censorship, police terrorism, and extra-governmental agencies.
• These agencies, like youth corps and armed 'patriotic' societies, terrorized/destroyed opposition groups.
• Declaring martial law in 1952 during wartime, Rhee arrested 12 assemblymen, censored the press, and intimidated the assembly into approving an amendment for direct presidential elections.
• The 1954 general elections gave Rhee's Liberal Party a landslide, owing to political controls, weak opposition, and electoral fraud reports.
• Rhee attempted a constitutional amendment to secure a third term but fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority.
• A math professor was called upon to justify "sa-sa, o-ip" (四捨五入 drop four tenths, add five).
• Before the 1958 National Assembly elections, Rhee executed political rival Cho Bong-am after a rigged trial and withdrew registration of Cho's party.
• In 1958, Rhee revised the National Security Law (국가보안법; 國家保安法).
• The revision allowed for up to five years in jail for those "knowingly disseminate false information or who distort facts and disseminate such facts to benefit the enemy."
• In the fraudulent 1960 presidential election, ballot stuffing, group voting, and the disappearance of ballot boxes from opposition strongholds occurred.
• Student protests followed in Masan, resulting in several deaths.
• On April 12, 1960, the body of student Kim Joo-yeol was pulled out of Masan harbor, grenade fragments in his eye socket.
• Masan demonstrations erupted when the students attacked police and government offices, the police fired into the crowds, and the regime declared martial law.
• On April 19, 1960, commemorated as sa-il-gu (4.1.9), at least 100,000 people converged on the palace demanding to see Rhee.
• Guards fired directly into the crowd, at least 115 young people died, and nearly 1,000 were injured.
• Regular army units secured order, aided by protesting students who believed, rightly, that soldiers sympathized with them.
• On April 25, several hundred university professors demonstrated for Rhee's resignation, and 50,000 demonstrators demolished the Vice President's home.
• On April 29, Rhee went to exile in Hawaii, and his Liberal Party soon disappeared.

The Second Republic (1960-61)

• It was the first democratic government, led by PM Chang Myon (장면) of the opposition Democratic Party.
• It established a bicameral parliamentary system with the cabinet responsible to the legislature and the weakened executive.
• The presidency became a titular office.
• NK's Kim Il-sung (김일성) proposed a confederal system of unification, leading to protests in SK demanding an inter-Korean meeting.
• It was a brief experiment with democracy with economic stagnation, dependency on the US, and political instability.

Military Coup (May 16, 1961)

• Park Chung-hee (박정희) and officers positioned armored units in Seoul, securing the city, radio, press, and the government bloodlessly; Washington acquiesced to the coup.
• By May 17, the junta closed the National Assembly and banned all political activity.
• A "revolutionary committee" called for the eradication of "all corruptions and social evils."
• It pledged anticommunism and close ties with the US and a "self-supporting economy," promising to return power to civilians once achieved.
• Park ran Korea under an emergency junta called the Supreme Council of National Reconstruction, proclaimed by an "extraordinary measures law," which suspended the 1960 constitution.
• The junta arrested 2,000 politicians, including Chang, and arrested/purged 13,300 civil servants and military officers.
• A "political purification law" banned 4,367 politicians from politicking for six years.
• 49 of the 64 daily newspapers in Seoul closed.
• Park added law to go along with the National Security Law, in 1961; defining all socialist countries as enemy states
• In 1961, Park announced plans to restore civilian rule by 1963 under U.S. pressure.
• In 1962, military leaders drew up a new constitution, restoring a strong executive presidency that existed under Rhee and a unicameral legislature.
• Park announced his retirement from the military to run for president and won 47% of the vote in a relatively fair election.

3rd Republic (1963-72)

• The new political institutions were the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) and Park's Democratic Republican Party (DRP).
• normalization treaty with Japan was established in 1964-65.
• Student demonstrations began in 1964 amid abolition threats to the National Assembly and reinstitution of martial law.
• Park declared martial law in June 1964, and the American commander acquiesced to the use of two combat divisions of SK Army troops to quell street demonstrations.
• The period from 1965 to 1971 saw rapid economic growth and political stability allowing Park to ran for reelection in 1967.
• His export-led program translated into political popularity and Park won in a reasonably fair election (except that the DRP and KCIA had millions of dollars).
• Opposition was weak in the late 1960s, with no administration-sponsored bills rejected from 1967-1971.

The Yushin (유신) Era (1972-79)

• On October 17, 1972, Park proclaimed martial law, suspending the constitution, dissolving the National Assembly and political parties, prohibiting political activities, and restricting speech.
• The eight years until 1979 saw a more thoroughly authoritarian state replace the democratic multiparty system; Park's government became a dictatorship
• Park's new constitution removed all limits on his tenure in office.
• He gained powers to appoint and dismiss the cabinet and prime minister, designate one-third of the National Assembly, and suspend or destroy civil liberties.
• While the National Security Law and the anticommunist law remained, Park frequently issued emergency decrees.
• In 1974, an infamous decree made any criticism of the regime a violation of national security.
• Yushin stemmed from dramatic changes in U.S. foreign policy that shocked Seoul
• Nixon's state visit to China in 1972 and the 1969 "Nixon Doctrine."
• The reduction of American troops from 62,000 to 42,000 created a sense of crisis for Park.
• Domestically, Park almost lost the 1971 election; opposition Kim Dae-jung (김대중) won 46%, despite vote buying helped by $7 million from oil firms.
• Kim's success was due to the underdevelopment of the southwestern Jeolla provinces (전라도); he addressed grievances of an aroused Jeolla population, left out in the cold by the miracle on the Han.
• Kim was run over by a truck in 1971, kidnapped in 1973, and put under house arrest until 1979.
• He was indicted in 1980 on charges of fomenting the Gwangju Uprising and nearly executed.
• Exiled to the US in 1982, he returned to house arrest again in 1985.

The Labor Movement

• The working class grew in the 1970s, moving strongly to affect politics in 1979–80.
• Labor in the late 1940s was later maintained by Rhee.
• Rhee maintained a state-controlled "company" union representing management and intervened to break strikes, but after, was reorganized by KCIA.
• After 1961, the KCIA reorganized labor from the top, forming bigger workplace unions by sector (textile, chemical).
• A new national labor federation consisted of representatives who pledged loyalty to Park.
• Teenage women formed an army of low-skill workers.
• Young women were the soldiers of the export-led "take-off" having either a junior high or a grade school education, with nearly half living in company dormitories on company food with one day off per month.
• A textile Jeon Tae-il immolated himself in 1970, shouting "Obey the labor standards act!" and "Don't mistreat girls," which shocked the nation.
• In February 1978 women at Dongil Textile were preparing for elections to their union, had human excrement smeared on their faces.
• In February 1978, the women stood nude, forming a human wall in front of riot police.
• A Methodist minister key catalyst in forming the women's union, prompting the KCIA jailed her in 1972.

Religious Leaders' Dissent

• Korean churches resisted Park's dictatorship.
• The KCIA worried about knocking down the doors of churches with tanks while Latin American "liberation theology" migrated to Korea.
• They influenced Catholic leaders and yielded a Minjung movement; the term means "masses," or "common people".
• The "Christian Manifesto” in 1973 stated the regime in Korea is a one-man dictatorship contrary to God's will, destroying freedom of religious belief and conscience, employing deception, and using ruthless methods against political opponents.
• Park was assassinated in October 26, 1979.

Another military coup (Dec 12, 1979)

• The assassination led to a brief period of political openness, sometimes called "Seoul Spring."
• The assassination investigation was led by Major General Chun Doo-hwan (전두환), chief of the Defense Security Command and a Park loyalist.
• On Dec 12, 1979, General Chun and General Roh Tae-woo (노태우) used the army and special forces to execute a coup.
• Chun made himself head of the KCIA and kept his post as head of the Security Command.
• Tens of thousands flooded Korea's cities with demonstrations in May 1980.
• On May 17, 1980, Chun declared martial law, closed universities, dissolved the legislature, banned political activity, and arrested political figures.
• Chun set up measures for national security, and made himself head of its standing committee.

Gwangju Uprising (1980)

• Elite paratroopers landed in Gwangju on May 18, 1980 and began the indiscriminate murder of students demanding the martial law's repeal.

• Local people drove the soldiers from the city by May 21.

• By May 27, the soldiers returned, killing scores more people who had refused to put down weapons; 500 died and close to another 1000 went missing

• Chun shut down political activity completely, arrested Kim Dae Jung, blamed the rebellion on him, and made himself the president of the Fifth Republic.

• Chun banned political activities of 800 politicians and 8,000 officials, leading to some 37,000 journalists, students, teachers, labor organizers, and civil servants landing into purification camps ("Samchung re-education camp").

• Young people left universities to work in factories and merge with the urban working class; the state called them "disguised workers.”

• Kim DJ returned in 1985 receiving a wholehearted welcome.

• In 1987 another student was tortured to death initiating a mass movement for democracy and Roh Tae-woo was chosen to succeed Chun without an election.

• In 1987 on June 10 demonstrations were launched

• Middle-class joined protestors.

• Lee Han-yeol was hit and after the incident protests occurred.

• Over one million people attended Lee's funeral. _ Middle-class workers nicknamed "necktie brigade" got involved.

• June 1987 held Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in served as presidents

• Direct Elections in 1987 where Roh Tae-woo announced the date and would include amnesties for previous political figures and guarantees for basic rights

• Opposition groups split by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-Sam against Roh. This leads to the distinct regional voting pattern.

Explore key events in South Korea's history. From the April Revolution, Syngman Rhee's presidency, to Park Chung-hee's rise. Understand the transitions and political changes that shaped the nation.