Word: korea
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...American influence. Because the U.S. is our closest ally and because American officials do not want any instability in Korea, they have emphasized the importance of sticking to democratic principles. But I think U.S. officials remained within the proper limits. They understand that the decision has to be made by the Korean people, and interfering with our own problems is not their business...
...speaker at an executive council meeting of South Korea's ruling Democratic Justice Party had labored over his speech at home all weekend. He dictated the final version to his secretary, who drafted a single handwritten copy. So when Party Chairman Roh Tae Woo got up to speak last week and pulled that piece of paper from his suit-jacket pocket, virtually no one in the crowded room was aware that history was about to be made...
...years of often fractious political life since South Korea became a republic, there had never been a policy reversal so sweeping and so totally unexpected. Roh announced he had decided to support the direct election of South Korea's next President, thereby acceding in a single stroke to the principal demand of thousands of protesters who had turned cities throughout the country into scenes of nightly combat during the three previous weeks. What is more, said Roh, he would recommend that President Chun Doo Hwan agree to a list of other democratic reforms, including freedom of the press, the release...
...Washington, both the Administration and legislators expressed relief over the break in South Korea's political crisis. With its close and long- standing ties to the Seoul government, the U.S. had been deeply concerned it would be blamed for any excessive force used in quelling the demonstrations. While U.S. officials insisted they had not played any part in drafting the measures offered by Roh, they nonetheless lost no time in congratulating him. Said Gaston Sigur, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who visited Seoul in the midst of the crisis: "Many Americans have looked forward...
...opening" was engineered by two men who had previously ruled it out. On April 13, Chun had abruptly decreed an end to debate on constitutional reform until after next year's Summer Olympics in Seoul. That move was effusively endorsed by Roh, a classmate of Chun's at South Korea's military academy and a fellow ex- army general. Paying tribute to Chun's "keen perception of history," Roh on June 10 was formally chosen as the Democratic Justice Party's candidate for President in a national election set for later this year. It was Roh's nomination ceremony, which...