June fight 1987
The June Fight of 1987 (also June Uprising , June Movement , June 10th Movement , Korean 6 월 민주 항쟁 ) is the first largely bloodless change of power at the head of the South Korean government since the Second World War . After nationwide protests from June 10 to 29, 1987, the military regime under Chun Doo-hwan was forced to introduce extensive state reforms and hold free elections. Instead of being appointed by his predecessor as originally planned, General Roh Tae-woo was elected by the people as the new president at the end of the year.
background
Since the introduction of the Yusin Constitution ( Fourth Republic ) by President Park Chung-hee , the South Korean presidents have been elected by an electoral body (the " National Conference for Reunification "), which was previously appointed by the government itself. This had not changed after Park's murder in 1979, when his chosen successor Choi was overthrown by the coup of Chun Doo-hwan on December 12, 1979. The Fifth Republic that followed was by no means democratically legitimized either: In 1980, Chun set an example against nationwide protests that claimed countless lives. Chun's new constitution provided for a one-time seven-year term for the president. He had sworn to keep this.
In order to preserve the appearance of democracy, Chun held elections in 1985, which for the opposition under Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young-sam (both of the New Democratic Party of Korea, NKDP) were quite hopeful: Chun's Democratic Justice Party (DJP) became the strongest force but received only 35.2% of the vote, followed by the NKDP and the Korean Democratic Party (DKP). The central concerns of the NKDP leaders were direct presidential elections, which Chun cleverly thwarted. After years of procrastination, a parliamentary committee finally met in April 1987 on proposals, but then Chun decided that the Summer Olympics in South Korea should run smoothly before a constitutional change was made. He intended to keep his promise of 1980 (without changing the rules) with a bloodless transfer of power to his long-time friend and companion, Roh Tae-woo.
Chun's delaying tactics caused unrest among workers, students and church groups, who were later to form the civil society basis for the June movement and to set up the “ headquarters of the social movement ” as an NGO alliance . The demonstrators received an additional moral boost from the successful Peoples Power Revolution in the Philippines last year. In contrast to 1980, the leaders of the street opposition groups showed strong solidarity with one another.
The death of student Bak Jong-cheol, who was tortured in police custody, further fueled the mood of criticism, especially since his death was kept secret and was only exposed by the Catholic Society for Justice (CPAJ) five months later, in May 1987 . The CPAJ planned a demonstration in memory of Bak on June 10th. On the day before this demonstration, there was yet another outbreak of violence, in which the publicly protesting student Li Han-yeol was fatally injured by a tear gas grenade . The two deceased students had attended different universities in Seoul .
Mass demonstrations
On June 10, the regime’s presidential candidate, General Roh Tae-woo, was also nominated by his party. The existing election mode guaranteed his foreseeable election victory; he was a confidante of Chun. The announcement sparked widespread protests.
After the memorial demonstration on June 10, a demonstration took place on June 18 which demanded a ban on the use of tear gas grenades. Even employees and high earners joined the protests. The following day protests resulted in 3,831 arrests; 700 police officers are said to have been injured.
In a speech in West Berlin that became famous for other reasons on June 12, US President Ronald Reagan commented on current affairs in Korea: In view of the Korean unrest, the 1988 Olympic Games could take place in both halves of Berlin. Eberhard Diepgen , Governing Mayor of West Berlin, was open-minded about this; GDR representatives rejected the proposal.
On June 19, Chun mobilized the military. On the same day, the US ambassador handed him a letter from Reagan: The US president, who had willingly supported Chun politically in previous years, now advised him to find a peaceful solution. Chun then only kept the soldiers in reserve so as not to provoke the protecting power by repeating the bloody massacre seven years earlier. Nevertheless, highly armed forces and the secret service accompanied all demonstrations with the greatest vigilance.
On June 22, 100,000 demonstrators and 60,000 police officers faced each other in a street fight in Seoul; More violent protesters also erected barricades. The mirror reported thousands of injuries. Further incidents were reported from another 27 cities.
On June 23, 20,000 students demonstrated peacefully at Yonsei University , which like 27 other universities had been officially closed since the previous week.
On Friday, June 26th, the " Great National March for Peace " took place, in which more than a million people in 34 cities are said to have taken part. On the same day, Zeit reported that the atmosphere in Seoul was infused with pepper spray and tear gas. The result of the last two weeks is not only the dead students, but also a fatally injured police officer, more than 12,000 arrests and hundreds of arrests.
Reaction and Change of the Regime
On June 29, regime candidate Roh announced in an eight-point declaration that the protesters' key demands would be met: free and democratic direct elections for the president, amnesty for prisoners of political opinion, including opposition candidate Kim Dae-jung, protection of the right to physical integrity, Freedom of expression and freedom of the press , creation of a dialogue-based political climate and social reforms.
The military regime then implemented this catalog. On July 3, Hyundai's first union was formed in Ulsan and workers were given the right to strike. By September, more than 1,000 other unions had been formed.
In the period from 12. to 28. In October 1987 the Gukhoe Parliament passed a fundamental constitutional reform. It enshrined previously unsettled fundamental rights, guaranteed direct election of the president, and curtailed his power in favor of parliament.
Two weeks before the South Korean presidential election in 1987 , North Korean agents assassinated a passenger plane on its way from Seoul to Bangkok . 115 people were killed in the terrorist attack on Korean Airlines Flight 858 . Roh, still the candidate of the military regime, profited in the media from his determined reaction to the accident and achieved a simple majority with 36.6% of the votes. The former party friends of the opposition, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, had gambled away their respective election victory and the mood of change due to the separate candidacy and each achieved just under 30%. The election fraud -Anschuldigungen the losing candidates they drew back soon.
Chun Doo-hwan (1981, in office 1980–1988)
Roh Tae-woo (1989, in office 1988–1993)
Kim Young-sam (1996, in office 1993–1997)
Kim Dae-jung (2001, in office 1997-2002)
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With Roh's swearing-in in February 1988, the time of the Sixth Republic began . Due to the social pressure, Roh implemented further reforms in favor of workers and socially disadvantaged classes even after his victory, and thus contributed to the stabilization of the new political system. His main opposing candidates from 1987 won the following elections in 1992 and 1997 and also served for a full term each. Chun and Roh were given maximum sentences in court in 1996 for crimes committed during the military regime and later pardoned by President Kim.
2017, the regime change in the was Politthriller 1987 of Jang Joon-hwan filmed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f A. David Adesnik, Sunhyuk Kim: If At First You Don't Succeed: The Puzzle of South Korea's Democratic Transition . Stanford, July 2008. ( Digitized ( September 28, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ))
- ↑ Susie Park: Requirements and reality of “qualifying employment” in the area of tension between unemployment and social welfare policy. Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-8382-5913-0 , p. 195. ( digitized version )
- ^ Digital copy of Reagan's speech in Berlin
- ↑ a b Der Spiegel: Critical Point , June 22, 1987.
- ↑ a b Matthias Naß: Lord, give this country democracy. In: The time. June 26, 1987.