History repeating itself?

12.12: The Day @ Seoul Spring (Korean; 2023)

Director: Kim Sung-su

South Korea had a tumultuous political past. After the end of WWII, the Korean peninsula was divided by the 38th parallel between the Soviets and the US. Small skirmishes led to the North Korean army attacking their Southern neighbours and the Korean War. The Americans elected their corrupt man, Syngman Rhee, president.

Student revolt brought him down. Dictators Park Chung Hee took over till he was assassinated in 1979. This film narrates the time after Park’s assassination and that time when two factions of the army try to gain control of the helm of the rule. Martial law is instituted after the demise of Park. One group feel it is not right for the Army to enter politics, while the other wants to form a new government.

The Prime Minister was elected to the post of President by default on 6th December 1979. Six days later, on 12.12, a coup d’etat by a rogue general, Chun Doo-hwan, brought the government down.

This type of unrest has been a common scenario in South Korea throughout its modern history. Despite this, South Korea continued progressing by leaps and bounds economically. A free election was finally held in 1987 after Chun was ousted by the citizens when he wanted to extend his tenure as President.

Just when you thought military rule was history, the unpopular sitting President shockingly declared martial history after the Parliament rejected his budget. In other democracies, the Parliament would suggest a vote of no confidence. Not in Korea. The fear of being attacked by North Korea was good enough a threat. After all, Yuen, the President reiterated, was battle-ready. It was sending troops to Ukraine!

P.S. The military law decree was voted out.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.