Chapter Twelve
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impact the two Koreas. The final section presents a conclusion of the
perspectives of all of the states involved in the Six Party Talks as they face
an uncertain future with a new North Korean regime as well as a new
president in the South.
Development of a Liberal Democratic System
in South Korea
Of all the states involved in the Six Party Talks, South Korea has perhaps
the most at stake in the process. Until the Korean War in 1950, the Korean
peninsula had been viewed as one nation for over 1,000 years.^2 Ethnically
and linguistically, the peninsula remains homogeneous despite the divide
along the 38th Parallel, or the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Yet politically,
the two states have experienced vastly different trajectories since the 1953
armistice.
South Korea began a sometimes tumultuous path towards democratization
and modernization. Even before the civil war in 1950, the government of
Rhee Syng Man was strongly anti-communist and was supported by the
United States. After the Korean War, the US turned a blind eye to the
increasingly authoritative measures of the Rhee Administration, because,
given the choice between an anti-communist dictatorship or a multi-party
democracy, US realists preferred the former.^3 Then, in 1961, General Park
Chung Hee took power in a military coup, followed by several decades of
military rulers. During those decades of military rule, grassroots
democracy movements in the country were sometimes brutally crushed,
including the 1980 massacre of civilians in the city of Gyeongju.^4 During
this time, a number of prominent activists were jailed, including future
President Kim Dae Jung, who was imprisoned twice, and sentenced to
death the second time but later pardoned.^5
Still, democracy had finally found fragile roots in the South by the
1990s,^6 not long before the North began to gain attention for its nuclear
ambitions. 1993 saw the first civilian President come to power in South
Korea, Kim Young Sam, and in 1998 Kim Dae Jung followed.
(^2) Kim, “The Two Koreas and the Great Powers,” xii.
(^3) Jung and Kim, “Development of Democratization Movement in South Korea,” 8.
(^4) Branford “Lingering Legacy of Korean Massacre.”
(^5) Nobel Prize Website, 2011.
(^6) Branford “Lingering Legacy of Korean Massacre.”