The June 29 Declaration (), officially titled the Special Declaration for Grand National Harmony and Progress Towards a Great Nation (), was a speech by

Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the cur ...

, presidential candidate of the ruling

Democratic Justice Party The Democratic Justice Party (DJP; ) was the ruling party of South Korea from 1981 to 1990. History Chun Doo-hwan had become the country's de facto leader after leading a military coup in December 1979, and was elected president in his own r ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, on 29 June 1987. In the declaration, Roh promised significant concessions to opponents of the incumbent

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

regime of

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

who had been pressing for democracy. Roh went on to win the open

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

that were held that year, the first for at least the fifteen years since the October Yushin of 1972. The question of the role of the June 29 Declaration is important in the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

of South Korean

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

. According to proponents of the view that this was a "pacted" transition, achieved by calculated compromise by the ruling elite, the June 29 Declaration was the crucial turning point in the development of these calculations.Kim, S., "Civil Society and Democratization in South Korea", in Armstrong, C. K. (2007), ''Korean Society: Civil Society, Democracy and the State''.

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

, p. 53. "Pacted" transition theorists point to the authoritarian methods of Roh's subsequent regime, which continued the political manipulation and '' trasformismo'' of the Chun government, as evidence for the thesis that the June 29 Declaration was simply a tactic that enabled the perpetuation of authoritarian rule. "Mass" transition theorists, by contrast, believe that the Declaration was merely a response to the

June Democracy Movement The June Democratic Struggle (), also known as the June Democracy Movement and the June Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ru ...

, and the democratization process was driven by the force of popular demand rather than elite bargaining. The Declaration comprised eight points, in which Roh promised to: * amend the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

to provide for the

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

of the president; * revise the presidential election law to ensure free candidature and genuinely competitive elections; * grant

amnesty Amnesty () is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of people who are subject to trial but have not yet be ...

political prisoners A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

, including

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

; * protect human dignity and extend the right of ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

''; * abolish the Basic Press Law and restore the

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

; * strengthen local and educational autonomy; * move the

political climate The political climate is the aggregate mood and opinions of a political society at a particular time. It is generally used to describe when the state of mood and opinion is changing or unstable. The phrase has origins from both ancient Greece and ...

towards dialogue and compromise; and * achieve substantial social reform.Sin, D. C. (1999) ''Mass Politics and Culture in Democratizing Korea.''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, p. 3. The declaration began to be realized later that year with the promulgation of the constitution of the Sixth Republic of Korea in October.

References

{{reflist Political history of South Korea 1987 in South Korea