alternatehistory.com
1987 South Korea Presidential Election
A look back at the South Korea presidential election, December 16th 1987
1987 will always be remembered as one of the most tumultuous in the history of South Korea.
The problems, simmering under the surface for years under the leadership of President Chun Du-hwan, boiled over during a period of time known as the "June Struggle".
The beginning to the calamity were the deaths of numerous college students, all known as opponents to the Chun regime, in mysterious circumstances. The deaths, though hidden by the government, were uncovered by the Catholic Priests Association for Justice, causing public uproar and the beginning of mass demonstrations in the country.
The day before the Democratic Justice Party was set to meet, the students of Yonsei University protested against the tyranny of the Chun presidency. During the protest, a student named Lee Han-yeol was struck by a tear gas grenade that hit with such force that it penetrated his skull, leaving him in critical condition in the hospital. The movement that had been swelling on college campuses now had a martyr's face, as well as national attention (Han-yeol would succumb to his wounds on July 9th, with 1.6 million citizens participating in his funeral).
This situation would have been bad enough for the Chun regime; what followed the following day, on June 10th, made things worse. At the Democratic Justice Party Convention, the party nominated Roh Tae-woo, party chairman, Minister of State for National Security and Foreign Affairs, as well as the head of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee.
The problem with the nomination wasn't Roh himself, but the message that was sent that the party had anointed him the next President without public approval. What followed were massive pro-democracy protests in Seoul and many other large city areas.
With the protests continuing throughout the month of June, South Korea seemed destined to be thrown into a revolutionary scenario that would tear the country apart. This is when Tae-woo made his capitulation to the people.
On June 29th, Roh announced an eight point plan to revise the Constitution, calling for direct participation in the upcoming election for all citizens above the age of 20. Though his popularity was still incredibly low, Tae-woo had given himself a chance to lead in the future.
With the prospects of actual democratic elections occurring in the country, a crop of candidates sprung up to try and challenge Tae-woo in the contest scheduled for December 16th.
The early front-runner to combat Roh was Kim Young-Sam, President of the Reunification Democratic Party. Young-Sam had been president of the New Democratic Party for six years in the 1970's, but upon Du-hwan's rise to power was placed under house arrest. He was freed during the decriminalization process in 1985, and had subsequently founded the RDP and was believed to be the strongest opposition candidate early in the race. His pure opposition coupled with his political clout made him a tough opponent.
The next challenger to enter the fray was Kim Dae-jung, another opposition leader. In 1980 Dae-jung had been arrested for a second time in three years for opposing the regime and had been sentenced to 20 years in prison as well as a complete ban from politics in South Korea. After spending five years in prison, his sentence was commuted during decriminalization and he was allowed to rejoin the political sphere. He had bounced from opposition party to opposition party following his stint in prison, but had decided to run under his own banner in 1987, the Peace and Democracy Party.
The remaining three candidates, Kim Jong-pil, Shin Jeong-yil and Hong Sook-ja, all had party support but little infrastructure to win a national campaign. With the combatants decided, the election would come down to the top three.
At first, despite the national protests, it seemed that Roh Tae-woo had the inside track to victory. First and foremost, he was the ruling party's candidate, meaning he would enjoy special privileges none of the opposition candidates would receive. The consensus among opposition leaders was that, if worst came to worst for Democratic Justice, ballots would be stuffed.
All of Roh's success should not be placed on cheating, however. He was a very capable politician, and distanced himself enough from the current regime so as to appear his own man. Tae-woo led for much of the campaign in the polls.
The other shoe dropped, however, when classified documents made it out to the public that Democratic Justice had advanced knowledge of police activity in brutality towards student activists. As chairman of the party, it became clear that Tae-woo had enough information in advance to put a stop to the brutality that ended in the deaths of a handful of college students. Shortly after the news broke, his share of the vote in polls took a sharp nosedive.
All of a sudden, barring election tampering, it seemed that the contest was between Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung. Initial polling had the men in a tight battle, with Tae-woo in a close third due to regime loyalists.
With Roh essentially confined to third place, Young-sam moved his campaign towards the experience aspect of governing, claiming that only political insight could allow South Korea to receive the forward progress it deserved.
Alone on the path of full opposition, Kim chose to make his campaign that of a political outsider, despite his earlier experiences. Kim attempted to appeal to the voters who believed a fresh face was what South Korea needed to move out of the abyss of authoritarianism.
With huge turnout, the election was expected to remain a close three way race between the earlier front-runners. All of South Korea sat on pins and needles, waiting to determine the future of their country.
The nation was shocked, as was the world at large. A large majority of South Koreans remained pessimistic, despite doing their civic duty, in the respect that if Democratic Justice saw a loss incoming they would simply stuff the ballot boxes. And to sum extent, they did. And yet, it wasn't enough to overcome Dae-jung, who had stolen much support from Young-sam in the closing weeks of the campaign. Not even Democratic Justice officials could have predicted they would lose by 4% with the amount of work they did to ensure that their candidate won.
Much support coalesced behind Kim in the waning days due to a miscalculation by Young-sam. Assuming that the people would respond positively to a mixed message of change and order, Young-sam lost support amongst opposition leaders as well as those looking for change in government. These votes, in turn, went to Dae-jung, who had masterfully positioned himself as the new face in the group despite his past leadership.
With the final returns reported, all eyes turned to the government in Seoul: would they honor the results, or would they maintain their iron grip on South Korean politics?
1987 will always be remembered as one of the most tumultuous in the history of South Korea.
The problems, simmering under the surface for years under the leadership of President Chun Du-hwan, boiled over during a period of time known as the "June Struggle".
The beginning to the calamity were the deaths of numerous college students, all known as opponents to the Chun regime, in mysterious circumstances. The deaths, though hidden by the government, were uncovered by the Catholic Priests Association for Justice, causing public uproar and the beginning of mass demonstrations in the country.
The day before the Democratic Justice Party was set to meet, the students of Yonsei University protested against the tyranny of the Chun presidency. During the protest, a student named Lee Han-yeol was struck by a tear gas grenade that hit with such force that it penetrated his skull, leaving him in critical condition in the hospital. The movement that had been swelling on college campuses now had a martyr's face, as well as national attention (Han-yeol would succumb to his wounds on July 9th, with 1.6 million citizens participating in his funeral).
This situation would have been bad enough for the Chun regime; what followed the following day, on June 10th, made things worse. At the Democratic Justice Party Convention, the party nominated Roh Tae-woo, party chairman, Minister of State for National Security and Foreign Affairs, as well as the head of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee.
The problem with the nomination wasn't Roh himself, but the message that was sent that the party had anointed him the next President without public approval. What followed were massive pro-democracy protests in Seoul and many other large city areas.
With the protests continuing throughout the month of June, South Korea seemed destined to be thrown into a revolutionary scenario that would tear the country apart. This is when Tae-woo made his capitulation to the people.
On June 29th, Roh announced an eight point plan to revise the Constitution, calling for direct participation in the upcoming election for all citizens above the age of 20. Though his popularity was still incredibly low, Tae-woo had given himself a chance to lead in the future.
With the prospects of actual democratic elections occurring in the country, a crop of candidates sprung up to try and challenge Tae-woo in the contest scheduled for December 16th.
The early front-runner to combat Roh was Kim Young-Sam, President of the Reunification Democratic Party. Young-Sam had been president of the New Democratic Party for six years in the 1970's, but upon Du-hwan's rise to power was placed under house arrest. He was freed during the decriminalization process in 1985, and had subsequently founded the RDP and was believed to be the strongest opposition candidate early in the race. His pure opposition coupled with his political clout made him a tough opponent.
The next challenger to enter the fray was Kim Dae-jung, another opposition leader. In 1980 Dae-jung had been arrested for a second time in three years for opposing the regime and had been sentenced to 20 years in prison as well as a complete ban from politics in South Korea. After spending five years in prison, his sentence was commuted during decriminalization and he was allowed to rejoin the political sphere. He had bounced from opposition party to opposition party following his stint in prison, but had decided to run under his own banner in 1987, the Peace and Democracy Party.
The remaining three candidates, Kim Jong-pil, Shin Jeong-yil and Hong Sook-ja, all had party support but little infrastructure to win a national campaign. With the combatants decided, the election would come down to the top three.
At first, despite the national protests, it seemed that Roh Tae-woo had the inside track to victory. First and foremost, he was the ruling party's candidate, meaning he would enjoy special privileges none of the opposition candidates would receive. The consensus among opposition leaders was that, if worst came to worst for Democratic Justice, ballots would be stuffed.
All of Roh's success should not be placed on cheating, however. He was a very capable politician, and distanced himself enough from the current regime so as to appear his own man. Tae-woo led for much of the campaign in the polls.
The other shoe dropped, however, when classified documents made it out to the public that Democratic Justice had advanced knowledge of police activity in brutality towards student activists. As chairman of the party, it became clear that Tae-woo had enough information in advance to put a stop to the brutality that ended in the deaths of a handful of college students. Shortly after the news broke, his share of the vote in polls took a sharp nosedive.
All of a sudden, barring election tampering, it seemed that the contest was between Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung. Initial polling had the men in a tight battle, with Tae-woo in a close third due to regime loyalists.
With Roh essentially confined to third place, Young-sam moved his campaign towards the experience aspect of governing, claiming that only political insight could allow South Korea to receive the forward progress it deserved.
Alone on the path of full opposition, Kim chose to make his campaign that of a political outsider, despite his earlier experiences. Kim attempted to appeal to the voters who believed a fresh face was what South Korea needed to move out of the abyss of authoritarianism.
With huge turnout, the election was expected to remain a close three way race between the earlier front-runners. All of South Korea sat on pins and needles, waiting to determine the future of their country.
Much support coalesced behind Kim in the waning days due to a miscalculation by Young-sam. Assuming that the people would respond positively to a mixed message of change and order, Young-sam lost support amongst opposition leaders as well as those looking for change in government. These votes, in turn, went to Dae-jung, who had masterfully positioned himself as the new face in the group despite his past leadership.
With the final returns reported, all eyes turned to the government in Seoul: would they honor the results, or would they maintain their iron grip on South Korean politics?
- Gentleman Biaggi
- Word Count: 1.2k