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There's lot of inaccuracies here. First, president Park Chung Hee was the only choice as a result of a military coup d'etat in May 16th, 1961. Democratic organs

There's lot of inaccuracies here. First, president Park Chung Hee was the only choice as a result of a military coup d'etat in May 16th, 1961. Democratic organs only acted to appease United States, they did not function at all. Yes, Park Chung Hee was from South East (Kyongsang) region. Kim Dae Jung was from South West (Jeolla) region. PCH tried to have KDJ killed many times for his pro-North views and viola, KDJ becomes president in 1998, billions of slush funds travel to Kim Jong Il despite the warnings from US, Kim jong il tests a nuclear weapon 5 years later, KDJ wins the nobel prize. This is why he is mocked in Korea, he traded the security of his country for a fucking medal. The fundings continue when Roh Moo Hyun executes his predecessor's "Sunshine Policy". Of course, KDJ and RMH were popular presidential candidates in South West because of promises of economic development PCH completely neglected (the prejudice against Jeolla region was far more blatant back then). As you know Park Chung Hee was assassinated by his own intelligence director in fall of 1979 causing a major state of chaos. General Chun Doo Hwan seized power eventually. The timing of the Gwangju Uprising or Gwangju Rebellion is really peculiar as Chun had just begun to seize complete power after 7 months since the tragedy of PCH. A strong response was the only way to stabalize the country as there are reports that it was instigated by North Korean sleeper agents based on first hand accounts. The official case leaves this out but North Korean defectors admitted that North Korean agents in South Korea were placed strategically in cities to instigate armed rebellion should conditions allow it. Lot of pieces are missing with the official version that Gwangju civilians ran into a cache of guns and ammunition but they leave out the first hand reports that the people handing out the guns had a different dialect one that was closer to North Korea. This explains why an Air Force commandos, the military response because they were responding to a rebellion instigated by a foreign enemy country. We see this happening today in Crimea, Donetsk by Russia. You might have heard that recently, a South Korean lawmaker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_South_Korean_sabotage_plot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_South_Korean_sabotage_plot) was known to have been leading a similar armed saboteur group called RO (Revolutionary Organization) to assist North Korea in the case of a war by assassinating various figures, attacking vital infrastructure. The evidence against them was overwhelming including recordings and informants. He is sentenced to 12 years in prison. 총풍 사건, the "gun wind affair" was blown wildly out of proportion and is a popular topic for left wing elements to use in their arguments but in reality it was found to be groundless accusation and the presidential candidate would try to run for office 10 years later after winning a large defamation lawsuit. I am Korean btw, and shame on you for attacking me and being flagkilled earlier. If you want to sound convincing please keep it civilized.

dba7dba 12y ago
Completely agree with curiously. Kim Dae Jung really brings shame to Nobel Peace prize and the term human rights with his COMPLETE silence on the human rights abuses in NK. The operating motto of all 'liberals' and 'human rights advocates' is about trying to get rid of the human rights abuses that are so rampant in NK. And yet you really cannot find much criticisms from him criticizing NK. WHY? Does he owe something to NK?
dang 12y ago
> I am Korean btw, and shame on you for attacking me and being flagkilled earlier. That comment certainly deserved to be flagkilled, but your comment would also be better without this.
yongjik 12y ago
I have better things to do than try to argue Korean politics in Hacker News (and I have a hard time keeping my voice calm with this), so I'll just point out a few obvious points, for posterity. Park Chung Hee was drinking whiskey with his aides, a singer, and a girl "recruited" by special services, while talking about rampant protests that were sweeping the country. One aide, Cha Ji-chul, had reportedly said a few days eariler: "Cambodia killed three millions. Is it a big deal if we kill a million or two?" Mind you, he was talking about the particular wave of protest that was sweeping Park's own political base, the Southeast (Gyeongsang) region[1]. Probably fearing that Cha and Park were serious, another aide, Kim Jae-gyu, shot them in the party scene (Oct 26, 1979), thus ending more than a decade of dictatorship. South Koreans finally had a chance of democracy, which my fellow Korean here referred to as "a major state of chaos". Unfortutely, during the hectic moment, another general, Chun Doo-Whan, staged a coup on December 12th, gaining power. Of course South Koreans throughout the country didn't like it a bit. There were massive protests everywhere, including Seoul, which is (somewhat poetically) called "Seoul's spring on 1980". This is what it looked like [2]. Nobody will know exactly what was in Chun's mind, but he might have thought that he should make an example, probably not Seoul itself (too dangerous: he probably didn't want to murder people right in front of the US embassy's eyes) but big enough that people would take notice. A "strong response" to "stabilize the country", indeed. The rest, as they say, is history. While Chun was in power, the May 18th massacre was officially called "Gwangju incident (광주사태)", and the official version was of course that communists infiltrated the city of Gwangju, started a revolt, and the soldiers put things back to order. Stories and gruesome pictures of people shot on the street and flattened by military vehicles slowly circulated, with angry whispers in low voices. When a university student, Park Jong-chul, was tortured to death in 1987, people finally decided they had enough, which ignited the June 10th movement [3]. "Bring Park Jong-Chul back to life!" they shouted. "Murderer Chun Doo-Hwan, step down!" Sure, South Korea is a free country. If you want to claim these hundreds of thousands of people were mislead by communists, go ahead. But it's thanks to those people who stood against soldiers and militarized police, in the street of Geumnam-ro in Gwangju or in front of Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, that I or you can say what's in our mind without fearing imprisonment, torture, and death. * There was no happy ending. On June 29th, the government finally relented, promising a popular election for the next president. Unfortunately, because of an age-long feud between two opposition leaders (Kim Young-Sam and Kim Dae-Jung), they both entered as candidates in the election, resulting in Chun's minion, Roh Tae-Woo, becoming the next president. Several years later, Kim Young-Sam did one of the worst about-face in South Korea's short political history, and joined Roh Tae-Woo's party, creating a mega-party that basically surrounded Kim Dae-Jung's Southwestern region, and basically cementing the Southeast region as the bastion of conservatism for decades to come. (It's slowly changing these days, though.) [1] http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EB%AF%BC%EC%A3%BC%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81 http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EB%AF%BC%EC%... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=80%EB%85%84+%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%EC%9D%98+%EB%B4%84&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=80%EB%85%84+%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%... [3] https://www.google.com/search?q=6+10+%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81&&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=6+10+%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81&&tbm...

dba7dba 12y ago

Completely agree with curiously. Kim Dae Jung really brings shame to Nobel Peace prize and the term human rights with his COMPLETE silence on the human rights abuses in NK. The operating motto of all 'liberals' and 'human rights advocates' is about trying to get rid of the human rights abuses that are so rampant in NK. And yet you really cannot find much criticisms from him criticizing NK. WHY? Does he owe something to NK?

dang 12y ago

> I am Korean btw, and shame on you for attacking me and being flagkilled earlier. That comment certainly deserved to be flagkilled, but your comment would also be better without this.

yongjik 12y ago

I have better things to do than try to argue Korean politics in Hacker News (and I have a hard time keeping my voice calm with this), so I'll just point out a few obvious points, for posterity. Park Chung Hee was drinking whiskey with his aides, a singer, and a girl "recruited" by special services, while talking about rampant protests that were sweeping the country. One aide, Cha Ji-chul, had reportedly said a few days eariler: "Cambodia killed three millions. Is it a big deal if we kill a million or two?" Mind you, he was talking about the particular wave of protest that was sweeping Park's own political base, the Southeast (Gyeongsang) region[1]. Probably fearing that Cha and Park were serious, another aide, Kim Jae-gyu, shot them in the party scene (Oct 26, 1979), thus ending more than a decade of dictatorship. South Koreans finally had a chance of democracy, which my fellow Korean here referred to as "a major state of chaos". Unfortutely, during the hectic moment, another general, Chun Doo-Whan, staged a coup on December 12th, gaining power. Of course South Koreans throughout the country didn't like it a bit. There were massive protests everywhere, including Seoul, which is (somewhat poetically) called "Seoul's spring on 1980". This is what it looked like [2]. Nobody will know exactly what was in Chun's mind, but he might have thought that he should make an example, probably not Seoul itself (too dangerous: he probably didn't want to murder people right in front of the US embassy's eyes) but big enough that people would take notice. A "strong response" to "stabilize the country", indeed. The rest, as they say, is history. While Chun was in power, the May 18th massacre was officially called "Gwangju incident (광주사태)", and the official version was of course that communists infiltrated the city of Gwangju, started a revolt, and the soldiers put things back to order. Stories and gruesome pictures of people shot on the street and flattened by military vehicles slowly circulated, with angry whispers in low voices. When a university student, Park Jong-chul, was tortured to death in 1987, people finally decided they had enough, which ignited the June 10th movement [3]. "Bring Park Jong-Chul back to life!" they shouted. "Murderer Chun Doo-Hwan, step down!" Sure, South Korea is a free country. If you want to claim these hundreds of thousands of people were mislead by communists, go ahead. But it's thanks to those people who stood against soldiers and militarized police, in the street of Geumnam-ro in Gwangju or in front of Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, that I or you can say what's in our mind without fearing imprisonment, torture, and death. * There was no happy ending. On June 29th, the government finally relented, promising a popular election for the next president. Unfortunately, because of an age-long feud between two opposition leaders (Kim Young-Sam and Kim Dae-Jung), they both entered as candidates in the election, resulting in Chun's minion, Roh Tae-Woo, becoming the next president. Several years later, Kim Young-Sam did one of the worst about-face in South Korea's short political history, and joined Roh Tae-Woo's party, creating a mega-party that basically surrounded Kim Dae-Jung's Southwestern region, and basically cementing the Southeast region as the bastion of conservatism for decades to come. (It's slowly changing these days, though.) [1] http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EB%AF%BC%EC%A3%BC%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81 http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B6%80%EB%A7%88%EB%AF%BC%EC%... [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=80%EB%85%84+%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%EC%9D%98+%EB%B4%84&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=80%EB%85%84+%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%... [3] https://www.google.com/search?q=6+10+%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81&&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=6+10+%ED%95%AD%EC%9F%81&&tbm...