Word: chun
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...stadiums have been built, the logos designed, and throughout Seoul huge billboards count down the days until the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics. Everything in South Korea between now and next summer fits into a tight schedule that reaches a climax with the Olympics. President Chun Doo Hwan, a former general, has also been fitting presidential politics into the program. Chun promised to revise the constitution so that when he leaves office in February 1988 -- the first Korean President to do so voluntarily -- his successor would be more democratically chosen...
...last week in a national broadcast, Chun announced that because of the pressing business of preparing for the Olympics, there will be no constitutional revision. This means that a military-backed candidate will almost certainly maintain control of the presidency. Chun explained that the Olympics and the country's "new glorious era of democracy" would be marred by constitutional debates that "split public opinion and waste national energies...
...cons of constitutional reform. Two weeks ago the opposition's two major leaders, Kim Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam, pulled out of the New Korea Democratic Party, the largest antigovernment group in parliament, because they felt the N.K.D.P. president was about to agree to a compromise supported by Chun. Citing the "mess in the opposition," Chun last week said he could not deal with a party unable to "resolve its own internal problems through dialogue." Critics charge that the president encouraged the divisions, negotiated only to set up a democratic facade, and would allow no one other than...
That successor is likely to be Roh Tae Woo, another ex-general and currently chairman of the ruling Democratic Justice Party. A former classmate of the President, Roh commanded the Seoul garrison that was instrumental in bringing Chun to office in the military scramble for power that followed the assassination of President Park Chung...
...Chun stated they were worried that publicizing might induce more attacks. He emphasized the safety of the offices, saying that no one can enter Room 13, "unless they could break down three very large doors...