The dictatorial rule of

Park Chung Heeand the rise of Chun Doo Hwan

November 20, 2012

Review

•How have the Kims managed to hold onto power in the DPRK?

•Why did the DPRK economy go into such a steep decline in the 1990s?

Park’s Politics

Park Chung Hee and Yun Posŏn: 1963 and 1967

Why did Park and Kim Jong Pil form the Democratic Republican Party?

Why did Park have to use non-democratic means to normalize relations with Japan in 1965?

How did he change the constitution in 1969 so he could run for 3rd term in 1971? Who ran against him? Kim Daejung.

Yusin

1972: Park becomes president for life.

Why did he do that?

Afraid of Kim Daejung, and afraid that the US was withdrawing from Asia.

Only a few people opposed Park’s dictatorship. Why so few?

Economic growth, fear of the North, a lack of legitimacy for opposition activity.

Why were so many leaders of the democratization movement Christians?

Life under Yusin

Authoritarian, not totalitarian: you were free to do what you wanted as long as you didn’t threaten the government.

Suppression of labour

1973 Kidnapping of Kim Daejung

1974 Assassination attempt kills Park’s wife

1974 Student Christian Federation incident

1975 People’s Revolutionary Party incident

Churches as sanctuaries for protest

Debating the Park regime

•No consensus on his legacy.

•Was he a brutal dictator? Yes, he was

•Did he take Korean from poverty onto the road to prosperity? Yes, he did.

•Was he a nationalist? Yes (after 1945)

•Was he corrupt? No, he wasn’t.

•His daughter, Park Geun-hye, carries with her today the ambiguity of her father’s legacy.

The end of the Park Regime

Increasing labour unrest in 1979

Street demonstrations in Masan in the fall, some demonstrators are killed

Oct. 26, 1979 CIA chief Kim Chaegyu kills Park. Why did he do that?

Dec. 12, 1979 General Chun Doohwan seizes control of his military with an attack on army headquarters in Seoul

May, 18, 1980 Chun seizes total control of the government, cancels plans for elections, arrests leading politicians, journalists, etc.

Democracy Delayed

Park’s assassination on Oct. 26, 1979

Chun Doo Hwan’s coup in 2 parts: Dec. 12, 1979, and May 18, 1980.

Kwangju, Kim Daejung’s home base, protests Chun’s imposition of martial law. Chun dispatches Special Forces to suppress what began as peaceful demonstrations.

The Kwangju democratization movement is crushed, with 100s dead.

Imagining Kwangju

•Was it a“riot” or was it a “massacre”?

•Should it be called today the“Kwangju Democratization Movement” or the

•“Kwangju People’s [Minjung] Resistance Movement”?

•What does it mean to say“The May 18th Movement Remains Unfinished”?

Politics after Kwangju

Chun Doo-hwan’s Black Republic

• 1980-87

Radicalization of students (growing anti-Americanism and interest in Marxism), and further militarization of society

Growth of minjung literature and minjung theology (Minjung = suffering masses)

Corruption at unprecedented levels

Attempts were made to kill Chun Doo-hwan, in Burma and in Canada.

Roh Tae-wooA former comrade-in-arms of Chun

1987--Won by a plurality against Kim Daejung, Kim Youngsam and Kim Jong Pil.

Post-Cold War foreign policy --reached out to Eastern Europe and China

Lighter hand domestically--more arrests but less torture.

Merged his Democratic Justice Party with Kim Youngsam and Kim Jong Pil in order to gain a majority in Parliament. Forms Democratic Liberal Party