A Quick History Lesson

History has never really been my thing.  I love historical fiction (Downton Abby has taught me all I need to know about early 20^th century Britain, right?), but I think it is because of the characters.  I like to know about the people of different ages and places, but less so the historical facts.  So when Greg and I decided to flip our roles for this final month of the Global Semester, I was thrilled to know that I’d be attending a Sociology course about Korea as opposed to History.  Little did I know that I would not only be learning about Korean history, but loving it.

Korea is a fascinating place with a rich and complicated history.  From its cultural and economic ties to China starting back before 200 BCE through its colonization by Japan in 1910, Korea has been an important and interesting player in East Asia.  But it is its more modern history – the time from after the Korean War until the present day – that I find so compelling.  I think the history of both North and South Korea is amazing, but I’ll focus on South Korea since that’s where we are.

First off –here’s a quick timeline to give you the major dates:

1953 Korean War halted by armistice agreement, Syngman Rhee continues as President of First Republic of Korea

1960 April Revolution overthrows Rhee’s government and Second Republic of Korea established

1961 Military forces led by Park Chung Hee overthrow Second Republic of Korea

1968 Unsuccessful attempt by North Korea to assassinate Park Chung Hee

1972 Park Chung Hee announces emergency Martial Law and rewrites constitution so he can stay in office indefinitely

1974 First Lady assassinated by North Korean

1979 Park Chung Hee assassinated by his own cabinet member; coup d’etat; Chun Doo Hwan gets power

1980 Martial Law declared after Gwangju Massacre between dissenters and armed forces takes lives of at least 100

1987 Student uprisings lead to establishment of Fifth Republic of Korea, democratic elections held

1988 Host Olympic Games

1993 President Kim Young-Sam elected

1998 President Kim Dae-Jung elected

2003 President Roh Moo-Hyun elected

2008 President Lee Myung-Bak elected

2012 Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the late Park Chung Hee, is elected first female president

I was stunned when I first understood just how much upheaval and military rule has been in place since the Korean War.  Somehow I had always thought that South Korea was a peaceful democracy.  How they managed to host the ’88 Olympics is still a mystery to me.  And yet, while Park Chung Hee is regarded as essentially a dictator, South Korea experienced some of the most rapid economic development of any country during his tenure.  Their rocket like growth from one of the poorest countries in the world to a member of the OECD is hard to comprehend.

Nowadays, if you talk to almost anyone about South Korea’s modern history, they will look around to see who is listening.  Seriously, we had two different professors tell us that they could get in trouble for discussing some of the things they discussed with us, and a third actually told the students not to take notes during a specific discussion.  Why?  Because the current president is the daughter of former president/dictator Park Chung Hee and she wants to assure that his legacy is not tarnished.  In fact, she’s put together a government committee to rewrite the history text books.  One of our contacts said that she was incredibly depressed when Park Guen-Hye was elected because it felt like a slide backwards.

I certainly can’t predict where things will go for South Korea in the near future.  President Park Guen-Hye is supposed to end her single, five-year term in 2018, but there are rumblings that she might be inclined to do as her father did and change the constitution.  With South Korea back on the world stage as the hosts of the 2018 Winter Olympics, it will be very interesting to watch what she does.