December 12, 1979 went down in the history of South Korea as a turning point for the democratic process that was beginning to grow in the country. The coup d’état perpetrated by General Chun Doo-hwan and his accomplices cut short the opening that the acting president, Choi Kyu-hah, wanted to initiate.
The military governments of Chun Dooh-hwan (1980-1988) and his successor, Roh Tae-woo (1988-1993), were characterized by the persecution of opponents and the lack of freedom, but what most marked their mandates was the Gwangju massacre in 1980. To consolidate his power, Chun and his allies suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations that had begun in that city. South Koreans are still calling for an investigation into those responsible.
From democratization attempts to repression
Before that December 12, South Korea had already been under the dictatorship of General Park Chung-hee for eighteen years. Although he was re-elected president three times between 1961 and 1971, he suspended the current constitution in 1972 and declared a state of emergency to consolidate his dictatorial regime. Six years later, South Koreans voted in favor of Kim Young Sam, an opposition leader who defended the country’s political and social opening. However, the government ignored the election results and expelled Kim from the National Assembly. This sparked a wave of demonstrations in Busan, Kim’s hometown, which spread to the rest of the country and were repressed. Park’s refusal to relinquish power earned him his death in October 1979, when the director of the intelligence service shot him dead while they were having dinner at a party he had organized.
After the death of Park Chung-hee, the chief of the Army Staff established martial law in some areas of South Korea, and Choi Kyu-hah, a diplomat and former prime minister in the Park government, was elected acting president by the National Assembly in December. Despite having been part of the previous dictatorship, Choi understood that he had to give in to popular demands for democratization if he wanted to stay in power. This, however, displeased a part of the Army, which wanted to return to the dictatorship. For this reason, General Chun Doo-hwan and the Hanahoe, a group of soldiers from the first class (1955) of the South Korean Military Academy, occupied Seoul on December 12, 1979, carrying out a coup d’état that placed them in command. of the Army and martial law.
The Gwangju Massacre
Although Choi Kyu-Hah remained president for a few months, Chun Doo-hwan and his allies began to increasingly influence South Korean politics. In fact, the military’s dominance of politics was such that in April 1980 Choi appointed Chun director of the intelligence service, but what demonstrated the power de facto of the Army was what happened a month later in Gwangju.
On May 18, Chun Doo-hwan and the Hanahoe staged another coup to extend martial law to the entire country and remove President Choi. Society’s reaction was immediate: the next day, nearly 600 students gathered at Chonnam National University to demonstrate against the Chun dictatorship and ask for democracy. The Army responded by sending special troops, tanks and helicopters to quell the demonstrations, which lasted for nine days. According to official sources, 200 people died, but the population numbers at least 2,000.
In any case, the Gwangju massacre forced Choi’s resignation in August 1980 and consolidated Chun Doo-hwan in power, who restored the military dictatorship. The general was elected president by a restricted electoral college, although the decision was not very difficult: he was the only candidate. Shortly thereafter, in October 1980, he approved a new constitution that underpinned his regime. South Korea would have to wait until 1993 to see a civilian in the presidency again: the former leader of the opposition to the Park regime, Kim Young Sam.