The Seoul Spring (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

:서울의 봄) was a period of democratization in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

from 26 October 1979 to 17 May 1980. This expression was derived from the Prague Spring of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1968. The assassination of president Park Chung-Hee on 26 October 1979 by Kim Jae Kyu, terminating his dictatorship, was expected to democratize South Korea soon by people who revived democratization movements. The

National Conference for Unification National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

tried to nominate Choi Kyu Hah to succeed Park Chung-Hee as president through indirect election. Then some anti-government figures held a fake wedding ceremony - in order to gather people, getting around the law prohibiting any political meeting - to denounce the martial law army and the National Conference for Unification after which the martial law army arrested 140 participants, including 14 persons delivered to the defence security command in

Yongsan-gu Yongsan District (, ) is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. Yongsan has a population of 231,685 (2020) and has a geographic area of , and is divided into 19 '' dong'' (administrative neighborhoods). Yongsan is located in central Seoul ...

and tortured. After the large-scale demonstration in

Seoul Station Seoul Station is a major railway station in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The station is served by the Korail Intercity Lines and the commuter trains of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. Services KTX Seoul Station is the terminus of most ...

, general

Chun Doo Hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 198 ...

, holding de facto real power at that time, declared the emergency martial to escalate and the army assaulted Ewha Womans University to arrest students representatives who had gathered there. The Seoul Spring effectively came to a close with the

Gwangju Massacre The Gwangju Uprising was a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, from May 18 to May 27, 1980, which pitted local, armed citizens against soldiers and police of the South Korean government. The event is sometimes called 5·18 (M ...

on 18 May 1980, which spurred future social movements toward democratization in the country.

References

Protests in South Korea South Korean democracy movements 1970s in Seoul 1979 in South Korea 1980 in South Korea Choi Kyu-hah Chun Doo-hwan Roh Tae-woo Gwangju Uprising 1980s in Seoul {{SouthKorea-stub

See also

References