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Republic of Korea 대한민국 大韓民國 | |||||||||
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| 1981–1988 | |||||||||
.svg) .svg) Flags between 1981 and 1988 .svg) Coat of arms(1981–1984) | |||||||||
Motto:
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| Anthem: 애국가 "Aegukga" | |||||||||
| National seal "국새" .svg) | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Capital | Seoul | ||||||||
| Common languages | Korean | ||||||||
| Demonym | South Koreans •Koreans | ||||||||
| Government | Unitarysemi-presidential republic under anauthoritarian[1]military dictatorship[2][1] | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1981–1988 | Chun Doo-hwan | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1981–1982 | Nam Duck-woo | ||||||||
• 1982 | Yoo Chang-soon | ||||||||
• 1982–1983 | Kim Sang-hyup | ||||||||
• 1983–1985 | Chin Iee-chong | ||||||||
• 1984–1985 | Shin Byung-hyun (acting) | ||||||||
• 1985–1987 | Lho Shin-yong | ||||||||
• 1987 | Lee Han-key (acting) | ||||||||
• 1987–1988 | Kim Chung-yul | ||||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Established | 25 February 1981 | ||||||||
| 25 February 1981 | |||||||||
• New constitution | 3 March 1981 | ||||||||
| 25 March 1981 | |||||||||
| 12 February 1985 | |||||||||
| January–July 1987 | |||||||||
• 1987 South Korean presidential election and new constitution | 16 December 1987 and 19 December 1987 | ||||||||
| 25 February 1988 | |||||||||
| Currency | South Koreanwon | ||||||||
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TheFifth Republic of Korea (Korean: 제5공화국;RR: Je 5 Gonghwaguk;lit. "Fifth Republic") was the government of South Korea from February 1981 to February 1988.[3]
The Fifth Republic was established in February 1981 byChun Doo-hwan, a military colleague of long-time president and dictatorPark Chung Hee, after thepolitical instability andmilitary rule in thefourth republic since theassassination of Park in October 1979. The Fifth Republic was ruled by Chun and theDemocratic Justice Party as ade factodictatorship andone-party state. The Fifth Republic faced growing opposition from the democratization movement of theGwangju Uprising, and theJune Democracy Movement of 1987 resulted in the election ofRoh Tae-woo in theDecember 1987 presidential election. Three days after the election upon the adoption of a newconstitution that laid the foundations for the relatively stable democratic system of the currentsixth Republic of Korea. On the 25 February 1988 theSixth Republic of Korea was established.
Park Chung Hee had served as the leader of South Korea since July 1961, during which he was ade facto military dictator and maintained his near-absolute power through legal and illegal channels. Park originally came to power as Chairman of theSupreme Council of National Reconstruction two months after theMay 16 coup (which he had led) overthrew theSecond Republic of Korea. The Supreme Council established aprovisionalmilitary junta government that prioritized the economic development of South Korea, but faced strong pressure from the United States to restore civilian rule. In 1963, Park abdicated from his military position to run as a civilian in theOctober 1963 presidential election, defeating the incumbent PresidentYun Posun and inaugurating theThird Republic of Korea two months later in December. The Third Republic was presented as a return to civilian government under theNational Assembly, but in reality was a continuation of Park's military dictatorship and the government was predominantly members of the Supreme Council. Park won re-election in the1967 presidential election, and the National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment that allowed him to serve a third term, which he won in the1971 presidential election againstKim Dae-jung. In December 1971, Park declared astate of emergency. On 10 October 1972, Park launched aself-coup known as theOctober Restoration, dissolving the National Assembly, suspending the constitution, and declaringmartial law across the country. Park commissioned work on a brand new constitution, known as theYushin Constitution, which essentially formalized his long-held dictatorial powers and guaranteed him as president for life. On 21 November 1972, the Yushin Constitution was approved in the1972 South Korean constitutional referendum with 92.3% of the vote and came into force, dissolving the Third Republic and establishing theFourth Republic of Korea.
Park's popularity in South Korea declined during the 1970s, as the economic growth of the 1960s began to slow and the public became more critical of his authoritarianism. On 26 October 1979,Park was assassinated at a safehouse byKim Jae-gyu, the director of theKorean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), causing political turmoil in South Korea. Park's successor,Choi Kyu-hah, was an ineffective president whose authority was largely ignored by the political elite. In December, Major GeneralChun Doo-hwan, the Chairman of theDefense Security Command and a former military colleague of Park, overthrew Choi's government in theCoup d'état of December Twelfth, and over the next few months gained control over most government apparatuses. In May 1980, Chun launched theCoup d'état of May Seventeenth establishing amilitary dictatorship under National Council for Reunification and declaredmartial law. Chun violently suppressed the subsequentGwangju Uprising democracy movement against his rule inGwangju, during which 200-600 people may have died. In August, Choi resigned and Chun was elected President in the1980 presidential election by the National Council, running unopposed and winning 99.37% of the vote. In October, Chun abolished all political parties and established his own, theDemocratic Justice Party, which was effectively a re-branding of Park'sDemocratic Republican Party that ruled South Korea since 1963. Soon afterwards, a new constitution was enacted that, while far less authoritarian than Park's Yusin Constitution, was still clearly patterned after that document, including indirect presidential elections and vague "emergency powers" which could be invoked to suspendcivil liberties.
The Fifth Republic of Korea was formally inaugurated on 3 March 1981, when Chun was inaugurated as President after being re-elected in theFebruary 1981 presidential election.
Although Chun gradually dismantled the highly centralized government structures set up by Park, his presidency was plagued by public outrage over his reaction to the Gwangju Uprising in 1980. The killings had consolidated momentum of nationwide support for democracy, and many people protested for faster democratization. Chun reorganized the government system and created numerous newministries, but South Korea remained ade factoone-party state under the Democratic Justice Party, and most elections during this era were not considered legitimate. Nevertheless, Chun had far less power than Park, and with few exceptions his rule was somewhat milder.
In the mid-1980s, Chun began to releasepolitical prisoners arrested during his rise to power. In 1985, theNew Korea and Democratic Party (NKDP) was founded as the successor of theNew Democratic Party, including notable opposition leaders Kim Dae-jung andKim Young-sam, and campaigned on a focus on greater democratic rights.[4] The NKDP became the opposition in the National Assembly after strong success in the1985 South Korean legislative election, with only 6% fewer votes than Chun's Democratic Justice Party.[citation needed] Reportedly, the NKDP's electoral success shocked and infuriated Chun.[citation needed] However, in 1986 the NKDP experienced internal ideological conflicts over the severity of opposition to Chun, and in 1987 Kim Young-sam's faction split to form theReunification Democratic Party.
The 1980 constitution limited the president to a single seven-year term, with no possibility of reelection even if it was nonsuccessive. It also stipulated that any amendments to remove presidential term limits would not apply to the incumbent, effectively foreclosing any attempts by Chun to run again in 1987. Despite this, Chun resisted calls to open up the regime.
In January 1987, the death ofPark Jong-chul caused a flare in the democratization movement and sparked widespread protests. Park, a student atSeoul National University and democracy movement activist, died from causes related to policetorture after being arrested at a protest. In June 1987, the death of Lee Han-yeol, a protester killed by a policetear gas grenade at one of the demonstrations following Bak's death, caused unrelenting pressure on Chun. The protesters demanded elections to be held, as well as instituting other democratic reforms, including direct presidential elections. On June 10, Chun announced his choice ofRoh Tae-woo as the DJP's candidate for president. He added that the next election would be indirect, a decision which was opposed by the protesters. However, unwilling to resort to violence before the1988 Olympic Games and believing Roh could win legitimate elections due to divisions within the opposition, Chun and Roh acceded to the key demands of direct presidential elections and restoration of civil liberties. On 16 December 1987, Roh won the1987 presidential election with 36.6% of the vote, the first honest national elections in South Korea in two decades. Three days later on 19 December, a new highly-democratic and liberal constitution came into effect, Chun finished out his term and handed the presidency to Roh on 25 February 1988. With the handed office, also the Fifth Republic was dissolved and the currentSixth Republic of Korea was established.
The Fifth Republic experienced economic difficulties during the first half of the 1980s, where foreign debts became a major issue in the aftermath of rapid economic development in the 1960s and 1970s. Many problems surfaced such as theLee–Chang scandal, the first financial scandal of Chun's presidency, and the dismantling of the International Group, a major Korean conglomerate. Falling oil prices, falling US dollar value, and fallinginterest rates also affected the country's economy.
By the mid-1980s, the South Korean economy improved, with high-tech industries such as the manufacture ofelectronics andsemiconductors becoming prosperous. In 1986,Hyundai Motors began exporting thePony andExcel models to the United States, the first signal that South Korea was competing with developed countries in the automobile industry. Thanks to exports, the gross national product (GNP) grew rapidly and the annual average growth rate remained around 10%. In 1987, GNP per capita exceeded $3,000. The start ofcolor television broadcasting in 1980 was also a sign of economic growth.
The South Korean economy continued to be dominated by family-owned conglomerates known aschaebols and their influence grew during the Fifth Republic. The share of the 10 largest conglomerates in the gross national product increased from 33% in 1979 to 54% in 1989, while the number of affiliated companies in the 30 largest conglomerates increased from 126 in 1970 to 429 in 1979 and 513 in 1989. The liberalization of imports saw the influx of agricultural and livestock products expanded. However, the government's policies provided a favorable environment for large companies, while the rural economy was seriously damaged by the importation of cheap foreign agricultural products. The self-sufficiency rate of grains fell from 86% in 1970 to 48.4% in 1985. Therefore, foreign agricultural and livestock products occupied a large portion of food consumed by South Korean people. While urban areas grew in wealth and size, in contrast the rural population rapidly declined, and many peasants from the countryside migrated to the cities. Rural migrants often lived in poverty at the very bottom of urban society, engaging in industrial or services work, and sometimes illegal activity.
The Fifth Republic openly maintained close relations with the United States andJapan under the banner of anti-communism, promoting a Korea-US-Japan Triangular Alliance. The Chun government's strong pro-American stance caused a reaction ofAnti-Americanism in the democratization movement, which had been treated with suspicion by the United States along with other student movements. While military relations with Japan were strong, the Fifth Republic witnessed a rise inAnti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea due to various cultural and political disputes, mostly related to the history ofJapanese rule in Korea. Examples include theJapanese history textbook controversies and problems with the Japanese immigration system forKoreans in Japan.
South Korea's relations with North Korea thawed during the beginning of the Fifth Republic, and proposedreunification plans were announced, but only held favorable conditions for their respective countries and was mostly used forpropaganda. North Korean relations soured in 1983 after theRangoon bombing, an attempted assassination of President Chun during a state visit inRangoon,Burma. Three North Korean agents detonated a bomb at theMartyrs' Mausoleum intending to kill Chun during a wreath laying ceremony to commemorateAung San. The blast killed 21 people, including four senior South Korean politicians: foreign ministerLee Bum Suk, minister of power resourceSuh Sang-chul, economic planning minister and deputy prime minister Suh Suk-Joon, and minister for commerce and industry Kim Dong-Whie. In September 1984, relations improved when North Korea sent large quantities of aid to South Korea during major flooding. The aid was accepted by Chun despite the North Korean attempt on his life less than a year earlier. In 1985, Chun proposed an inter-Korean summit that was eventually held in September in Seoul. The summit was considered a success in inter-Korean relations, but the bombing ofKorean Air Flight 858 on 29 November 1987 by North Korean agents damaged relations again.
The Fifth Republic continued South Korea's openly pro-Western stance and promoted stronger diplomatic ties withNATO countries inEurope, hoping to form greater economic ties to theEuropean Community. The Fifth Republic also began to establish diplomatic relations with variousAfrican andAsian countries, including theUnited Arab Emirates,Lebanon,Pakistan,Brunei, andBhutan.
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