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Korea in the World

Development of Democracy

Photo-The protesters heading towards the Blue House during the April Revolution
As South Korea achieved rapid economic growth, the nation also experienced a quick transition to a democracy. South Korea was able to become a democracy thanks to political developments that were subject to economic growth. To put it concretely, the rapid economic growth of the 1960s and the 1970s served as a cornerstone for the nation’s democratization process in the 1980s and the 1990s. It is noteworthy that since the 1960s the nation has implemented a condensed and sequential development model of economic growth and political development. But what should also not be overlooked is that democracy in South Korea has been achieved thanks to the active participation of its citizenry. The nation’s democratic system was made possible by citizens who opposed the military dictatorship by protesting in the streets and who later quietly judged the regime at the polls, consolidating their democratic power.

Korean democracy began with the process of the establishment of the Constituent National Assembly by means of elections and the appointment of the president by the Assembly after liberation from Japanese rule in 1945. In 1948, Rhee Syngman became the first president, but he extended his regime through two illegal amendments. In April 1960, South Koreans protested against the illegal election, and after the president resigned the Rhee government collapsed.

As a result of the April Revolution, the dissatisfaction and will of the people, which was suppressed under the Rhee Syngman government, manifested itself in diverse movements and demands. However, the government of the Democratic Party, which ruled after the revolution, did not properly cope with the situation due to internal divisions and conflicts.
Photo-Park Chung-hee (middle), who led the May 16 coup In May 1961, General Park Chung-hee staged a military coup d’etat with his fellow military officers and usurped the government of the Democratic Party. Having headed a military regime for two years, Park was elected president in 1963 and won reelection in 1967 and again in 1971 by the direct vote of the people. In October 1972, Park declared martial law, disbanded the National Assembly, banned the activities of politicians and political parties, and installed the repressive and authoritarian Yusin (“Revitalization Reform”) regime. With a new Yusin Constitution, he had sweeping administrative, legislative, and judicial powers.
He was entitled to take emergency measures whenever necessary—irrespective of the constitutional order—with which he could temporarily suspend even the constitution. College students and intellectuals, as well as some reform-minded opposition lawmakers, continued to oppose the Yusin Constitution. President Park Chung-hee took emergency measures to oppress and imprison those who called for the democratization of the nation. Following protests in both Busan and Masan, the Yusin regime collapsed in October 1979 with the assassination of Park Chung-hee.
After the death of President Park, the democratic movement became stronger. This process, however, was halted by a military coup d’etat led by General Chun Doo-hwan in December 1979. In May 1980, students and citizens held street demonstrations in Seoul and across the nation to protest the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan. The military authorities responded by expanding emergency martial law to the entire nation, banning political activities, and closing the National Assembly. The students and the citizens of Gwangju, however, ignored these oppressive measures. They staged a protest calling for the abolition of martial law and the release of those who fought for democratization. The bloody suppression of these protestors by the military authorities smashed the pro-democracy movement. Chun Doo-hwan was ultimately elected president through an indirect election under the Yusin Constitution. The Constitution was later revised to include a seven-year single-term presidential system.
Photo-Gwangju Democratization Movement
Boosted by the export-drive system of the 1960s and the promotion of the heavy and chemical industries of the 1970s, as well as to the global economic boom in the 1980s, South Korea saw further economic growth and the establishment of the middle class. In order to consolidate political power, Chun immediately upon taking office began cracking down on democratization movements. The middle class was more concerned with political stability and economic growth than democratization. Thus the democratic movement of that time languished. Nonetheless, due to economic growth and urbanization, improvement of education levels, and development of the media resulting from economic growth, citizens’ political expectations and desire for political participation increased.

This growing awareness of the necessity of people’s participation in politics led to calls for the revision of the Constitution in favor of a direct presidential election system. In May of 1987, it was revealed that the Chun Doo-hwan government repressed and manipulated the truth of the case of torture and murder of a university student. Citizens who were angry at the cruelty of the government took to the streets en masse to participate in the struggle for democratization. In the wake of the so-called June Democracy Movement participated in by both college students and members of the middle class, the Chun Doo-hwan government finally accepted the public demand for a direct presidential election system, and thus the road to South Korean democracy was opened. However, Roh Tae-woo, another military strongman and leader of the 1979 coup, was elected president in the first direct presidential election since 1971 because the opposition camp had failed to agree on a single candidate. Nevertheless, democratic changes and reforms continued.
Photo-June Democracy Movement
In March 1990, long-time opposition leader Kim Young-sam compromised with the military forces and merged three ruling and opposition parties. He ran for president as the candidate of a new mega-sized ruling party to become the first civilian president in a generation in December 1992. During his term, President Kim Young-sam disbanded Hanahoe (the Group of One), an unofficial private group of military officers headed by Chun Doo-hwan and the birthplace of the military coup in 1979. Under the catchphrase of “setting the history right,” Kim convicted his two predecessors—Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo—on charges of committing the crime of initiating a military coup.

In December 1997, South Korea achieved the nation’s first peaceful change of government with the election of another long-time opposition camp leader Kim Dae-jung as president. The nation’s progressive political camp continued to hold power with the election of Roh Moo-hyun as president five years later. In 2007, President Lee Myung-bak was elected as president, and a second horizontal regime change, this time from the progressive to the conservative camp, was achieved peacefully. The conservative party prolonged its political influence with the election of Park Geun-hye, the ruling party candidate, as the nation’s first female president. Park, the daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee, gained strong support thanks to the political legacy of her father. In October 2016, however, she was faced with candlelight protests demanding her resignation as president, after it was revealed that she ran the government through unofficial channels. As a result of nationwide candlelight demonstrations involving a large number of students and citizens, the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye in December 2016. Her impeachment was later upheld by the Constitutional Court in March 2017. In May, opposition party candidate Moon Jae-in was elected President, which marked the third democratic change of government.

The candlelight protests in 2016 show how Korean democracy has matured, in that the movement led by the citizens to have the president removed from office was carried out peacefully and within the framework of democratic laws and institutions. Although the democratization of South Korea owes much to its economic growth, it goes without saying that its citizens played a leading role in developing and consolidating democracy based on their heightened political consciousness. South Korean democracy has at times been hampered by military regimes or authoritarianism, but grassroots participation by its citizens and peaceful elections have consolidated its democratic political system.

Korea in the World
It is not easy to understand a foreign country in a short time. is a brief introduction of Korea for educators unfamiliar to Korea. The booklet collects and summarizes significant historical, cultural, and politico-economical traces of Korea. An essential material for educators who want to bring Korea in the textbook and to classroom.

Publication | The Academy of Korean Studies

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