Assassination of Park and Breakdown
The assassination of Park Chung-hee on 26 October 1979 was a pivotal moment in South Korean history, and a portentous one for the Yushin system. Park's Prime Minister, Choi Kyu-hah, assumed power as acting President, but was almost immediately marginalized by competing factions in the military. After the declaration of martial law following Park's death, General Jeong Seung-hwa acted as the government's chief administrator, and appointed Chun Doo-hwan the same day to lead a Joint Investigation Headquarters. On 27 October, Chun unilaterally assumed control of the KCIA and the government intelligence apparatus. On 6 December, the National Council for Unification confirmed Choi Kyu-hah as President according to the framework of the Yushin Constitution, but six days later Chun spearheaded a military coup, forcibly arresting and detaining General Jeong. Choi by this point had lost any meaningful authority in government, and Chun installed himself as Director of the KCIA early in 1980.
As growing social unrest came to a head in the Gwangju Democratization Movement, Chun tightened martial law and suppressed protests with troops, carrying out a further self-coup over the course of year. Elected President by the continuing National Council for Unification, Chun progressively dismantled the institutions of the Fourth Republic, dissolving the National Assembly and establishing an emergency national security committee with himself as director. Finally, Chun promulgated a new constitution in 1981, pushing it through a referendum and thereby formally dissolving the Fourth Republic and Park's Yushin system.
Read more about this topic: Fourth Republic Of South Korea
Famous quotes containing the words park and/or breakdown:
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“With the breakdown of the traditional institutions which convey values, more of the burdens and responsibility for transmitting values fall upon parental shoulders, and it is getting harder all the time both to embody the virtues we hope to teach our children and to find for ourselves the ideals and values that will give our own lives purpose and direction.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)