Bu-Ma citizen protests for democratization
The Bu-Ma Citizen Protests for Democratization ( Korean : 부마 민주 항쟁 Hanja : 釜 馬 民主 抗爭) were a series of citizen protests that occurred between October 16 and 20, 1979 in Busan and Masan . The designation Bu-Ma can be traced back to the respective first Hanja characters of these two cities (釜 = Bu, 馬 = Ma). The protests were directed against the dictatorial Yusin constitution of the then South Korean President Park Chung-hee and ended with his death on October 26, 1979 by Kim Jae-gyu's assassination attempt .
background
In the parliamentary elections in December 1978, the New Democratic Party , which was then the largest opposition party in the country, received more votes than the ruling Democratic-Republican Party of President Park Chung-hee. The ruling party was only able to maintain its majority in parliament thanks to the suffrage at the time, which granted rural regions more parliamentary seats than urban regions. This result came about despite the massive electoral manipulation on the part of the government and alarmed Park Chung-hee, who was able to secure his re-election again and again through the Yusin constitution he himself introduced in 1972.
In May 1979, Kim Young-sam prevailed against Lee Chul-seung within the New Democratic Party as chairman and declared war on the existing Yusin constitution and the Park Chung-hee regime. In August 1979, he organized a strike by employees of the YH Trade Company at party headquarters and, in an interview with the New York Times on September 16, 1979, called on the Carter government of the United States to intervene on behalf of the democratic forces in the country to restore democracy in the country. In response, the ruling Democratic Republican Party decided on October 4, 1979 to expel Kim Young-sam from parliament without the consent of other parties. As a result, the entire MPs of the New Democratic Party submitted their resignation in protest. This is generally considered to be one of the decisive triggers of the protests in Busan and Masan that same month , especially since Kim Young-sam was politically based in this region.
course
The protests were initiated by the students of Busan University , who marched through the city on October 16, 1979 . Two days later, protests began in the city of Masan, with participants calling for, among other things, the abolition of the Yusin constitution and the democratization of the country. Park Chung hee then declared a state of emergency in Busan on October 18 and also imposed exceptional regulations (위수령) in Masan, which were to be placed one level below the state of emergency and also legitimized the use of troops against the demonstrators . Subsequently, 66 people in Busan and 59 people in Masan were arrested and handed over to the military tribunal.
To get an idea of the situation, the then head of the KCIA secret service , Kim Jae-gyu, traveled to the two cities . At first, he believed that the protests would be mainly driven by the students or North Korean organizations. But on site he saw that the demonstrations were voluntarily organized and supported by ordinary people and decided against overly harsh intervention. The curfew was lifted on October 23, and the army withdrew from Busan city three days later.
At the same time, the Yusin regime ended with Park Chung-hee's death from the shooting of Kim Jae-gyu. Kim Jae-gyu later testified in front of the tribunal that Park Chung-hee's plans to crack down on any demonstrations that might flare up nationwide had led him to forestall an impending massacre of civilians and to shoot Park Chung-hee himself.
episode
The democratization of the country brought about by the death of Park Chung-hee was short-lived. On December 12, 1979, Major General Chun Doo-hwan carried out a military coup and was elected president the following year. He put down the Gwangju uprising with blood, which, according to generally accepted opinion, could have happened in Busan or Masan in the previous year. The military dictatorship ended in 1987 with the resignation of Chun Doo-hwan after the June fight . A park in Busan is named after this event, and there is a memorial for it in Changwon City , which was created by merging Masan and other areas.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 부마 민주 항쟁 이란? (What is Bu-Ma Democratic Protests?) ( Korean ) Retrieved December 13, 2015.
- ↑ 박정희 코 납작 하게 만든 또 하나 의 사건 - 프레시안 ( Korean ) Retrieved July 7, 2020.
- ↑ 의원직 제명 당한 김영삼 (Kim Young-sam issue of the remarks expulsion on a parliamentary seat in detention) . November 22, 2015.
- ↑ (Bu-Ma Democratic Protests) 부마 민주 항쟁 [釜 馬 民主 抗爭 ] . Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- ↑ Pyong-ch'on Yi: Developmental Dictatorship and the Park Chung-hee Era: The Shaping of Modernity in the Republic of Korea . Homa & Sekey Books, 2006, ISBN 9781931907286 , p. 236 (accessed December 13, 2015).
- ↑ 강준만, 《한국 현대사 산책》 1970 년대편 3 권, 258-259 쪽
- ↑ Naver News Library . Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ↑ Naver News Library . Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ↑ [역사 이야기 단 한번도 왕 의 목 을 치지 못한…] . February 14, 2001.
- ↑ 부산 민주 공원 (Busan Democratic Park) ( Korean ) Archived from the original on December 22, 2015.