Seoul Spring

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The Seoul Spring (Korean: 서울의 봄) was a period of democratization in South Korea from 26 October 1979 to 17 May 1980. This expression was derived from the Prague Spring of Czechoslovakia in 1968. On the night of 26 October 1979, President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) and his own security chief. Bringing an end to 18 years under Park's dictatorship, it signaled the possibility for constitutional reform and democratization movements started to call for an end to the Yushin Constitution. Immediately after his death became public, Choi Kyu-hah, then Prime Minister, became acting president under Article 48 of the Yushin Constitution. He declared martial law, with the exception of Jeju, and General Jeong Seung-hwa, the Army Chief of Staff, thereby became the government's chief administrator. Major General Chun Doo-hwan, chief of the Defense Security Command (DSC), was appointed the same day to lead a Joint Investigation Headquarters into the death of the president; through this position Chun was able to assume control of the KCIA and the government intelligence apparatus. The National Conference for Unification nominated Choi Kyu-hah, then Prime Minister, to succeed Park and he became South Korea's fourth president after the election on 6 December. He promised reform and a return of direct democratic elections. Only six days later, on 12 December, Chun arrested and detained General Jeong, launching the coup d'état of December Twelfth to take full control over the military. Since Choi was still in power, Chun had no direct influence over domestic politics yet. The protests for democratization continued and culminated in the 15 May 1980 demonstration against martial law at Seoul Station which involved 100,000 protesters, mostly students. After news about military intervention, they decided to back down in fear of...