Democratization In Korea Essay, Research Paper
Democratization
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9824055 Russian and Russian Literature
(Kim Suh Jin) ???? e-mail : devotomil@hanmail.net
Usually when a country goes through democratic transition
there are two side which conflict during the process. The present
government which wields the power and challengers from opposition
parties. In South Korea’s case it was the authoritarian regime and
the political opposition and the opposition experienced suppression
and confrontation before reaching a compromise. The authoritarian
regime has resources to obstruct or extend the democratic transition
to ensure it’s continued political domination, which was the case in
South Korea. The road to democracy is rough and the authoritarian
government had to choose from repression which was costly or a
compromise with democratic demands.
In S. Korea after Rhee Syngman regimes fall, Jang became
the prime minister. (The National Assembly changed the then
presidential system to a parliamentary system). Four opposition
parties were formed during the process: the Society and People’s
Party, the Association of Revolutionary Comrades, the Korea Society
Party and the Social Reform party. Jang Myeon made plans for the
economy and also proposed to cut military personnel. He also signed
a treaty with United States which gave U. S. much power. This was
signed because Korea badly needed U. S. economic aid. However
this weakened Jang regime and it failed to consolidate democracy.
Even though democracy had failed the yearning for democracy
continued throughout the 60’s and 70’s, and students demonstrated
against the authoritarian Park Chung Hee regime. In the 80’s the
student demonstrations became more violent. Despite the opposition
president Chun sought to postpone presidential elections and to make
sure that Roh Tae Woo could win without a properly contested
election.
On June 29 Roh Tae Woo made an announcement on
“Democratic Reform”. Roh’s reforms included a fair and presidential
elections and the release of political prisoners, at least partial
freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to form
political parties and this succeeded in making a concession with the
opposition. Discontent towards the authoritarian regime and popular
demonstrations of support for the opposition raised the cost of
reversing the momentum for a democratic transition. Also the whole
world’s attention on the 1988 Seoul Olympic games played a major
factor.
However the most important factor for Korea’s democratic
breakthrough was because of the opposition party members, Kim
DAe Jung and Kim Young Sam. Disagreement within the NKDP led
both members to break from the NKDP. (The dispute of choosing
parliamentary system or direct presidential elections). Kim insisted
on an immediate national referendum to decide between a
parliamentary and a presidential system, release of all political
prisoners so they could participate in the referendum, and on a
restoration of the civil and political rights of opposition leader Kim
Dae Jung. Roh agreed to the opposition’s demand on June 29, 1987.
On January 22, 1990 three parties of Roh Tae Woo, Kim
Young Sam, and Kim Jong Pil announced the creation of one
dominant party, the Democratic Liberal Party. Kim Young Sam
successfully broke away from the radical Kim Dae Jung and
guaranteed him the top executive post in the next government thus
the first civilian government in South Korea.
Democratization is a process that needs the consent of both
the governing party and opposition party, as the case in S. Korea.
However, preventing military from entering the politics and slowly
removing regionalism from S. Korea is of major concern. Even
though Roh curtailed the military’s role in politics there still is a
chance for it to emerge again. Also regionalism is a huge problem
that affects the present political system. These are some of the
problems that need to be worked out in the future.