Word: chun
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...buildings. In response, the government mobilized a division of front-line army troops and ordered a military attack against the rebelling civilians. The result was a bloodbath that left nearly 200 people dead. Ever since, the Kwangju massacre has been associated with a group of hard-line generals, including Chun, who took national power a few months later...
Strong as the memory of Kwangju remains in South Korean political life, however, the immediate cause of this year's extraordinary turmoil was a much more recent event. On April 13 Chun abruptly announced the end of a one-year- old national debate over electoral reform by declaring that no changes in the current system of choosing a chief executive would be contemplated until after the 1988 Summer Olympic Games, which are to be held in Seoul. To continue arguing about the matter while South Korea stands in the spotlight of world attention, said Chun, would "deepen our internal schisms...
Suppressing the debate, however, would have consequences stretching well beyond the Games. Chun's seven-year term of office ends next February, and he has repeatedly said he will step down at that time. But under South Korea's present voting machinery, his successor would be chosen by a large electoral college, a system that favors the ruling Democratic Justice Party, which is dominated by the military. Without a change in the system before the next election, the opposition would have no hope of reaching power...
...Chun's critics, who for years have called for the direct election of the President, were outraged. Kim Young Sam, one of two leaders of the principal minority party, pointed out that Chun won the presidency in 1981 with 92% of the vote in an election boycotted by the opposition. Demanded Kim: "How much difference is there between that election and those of ((Communist)) North Korea, whose leader usually receives 98% to 99% of the votes?" In an interview with TIME, Kim declared, "We will certainly boycott the next presidential election if it is held under the old system...
...Chun apparently chose to act in April at least in part because the opposition was in disarray. Unwilling to compromise on the issue of direct presidential elections, Kim Young Sam and his primary opposition partner, Kim Dae Jung, broke with the New Korea Democratic Party and formed a new group, the Reunification Democratic Party. Most antigovernment legislators decided to follow suit, quickly making the R.D.P. the primary opposition party, with 67 seats in the 276-member National Assembly. But the regrouping nonetheless served to splinter Chun's critics further...