The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, officially establishing two separate governments on the Korean peninsula, those of the North and of the South. I think the majority of Americans are at least somewhat familiar with the Korean war, though it does seem to receive somewhat less focus and discussion than many of the other wars we have been involved in. Still, you will be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't know about North and South Korea, and the basic story of how that happened.
But from the end of the Korean War, and thus the end of American involvement, I think you will find that very few Americans know just about anything regarding the history and development of The Republic of South Korea.
I imagine that the common view in the west would go something like this: "South Korea established an independent democratic government at the end of the Korean War. Obviously, it must have been an effective government, because today South Korea is the worlds 15th largest economy, and a thriving developed nation with civil rights and social liberties." It is more or less the assumption I made prior to researching it, and the view essentially draws a strait line between the two bits of information most of us have, namely South Korea right after the war and South Korea today.
But the line from then to now was far from strait. First off, the Republic that controls South Korea today is not the same one that was established after the war. It is an entirely separate constitution and set of laws from that government. In fact, the current Republic of South Korea is the 6th Republic to control the country, the 6th constitution established in the past 60 years. Think about that for just one second. Since the end of the Korean War, a given established government in South Korea has lasted, on average, about ten years.
So, It is the summer of 1953, South Korea and North Korea have signed an armistice, and agreed to split the peninsula in half. In South Korea, the fight was led primarily by a man named Syngmann Rhee, and he was the one to officially establish and declare The Republic of South Korea. Elections were held, and he was elected as the first president of South Korea. However, although his reign started out as democratic, it quickly turned autocratic. He spent the majority of the 1950's attempting to establish his authority, increase his power, and hang on to his position. He forced through a change in the constitution eliminating a two term limit on the presidency. He rigged elections. Towards the end of his presidency he was executing political opponents, and quelling uprisings by massacring his own people. Of course, we all know what this type of governing inevitably leads to, and eventually massive protests and demonstrations forced him to step down. He resigned in 1960 and lived out his remaining years in exile.
At the end of the Korean war, South Korea was essentially a third world country. Over the course of his seven years in power, he did nothing to change this. In 1960, Nominal GDP per capita (basically GDP divided by population) was around $70.
The second republic established a more heavily parliamentary government, in which the prime minister is more important than the president. There's really very little to say about the Second Republic, because it lasted a very short amount of time. It made no attempt at political suppression whatsoever, which is a good thing. Suddenly people had the right to demonstrate and express their voice, and hold protests. And they did. A lot. You see, the second republic failed in just about every way to handle the poor living conditions, manage the social unrest, or make peoples lives better in any significant way. And this was at a time when things were really very bad, and so people weren't willing to wait all that long. A military coup overthrew the Second Republic less than a year later, in 1961.
The military over throw of the Second Republic was led by General Park Chung-hee. This becomes an extremely important man in recent Korean History. He initiated the coup out of concern that the rapidly destabilizing government would soon collapse with disastrous consequences. Upon the success of the coup, he declared martial law, with the promise that a democratic government would be established within two years. He kept this promise, and a new constitution was drafted and established, and the Third Republic began with elections in 1963.
General Park himself won the elections, albeit by a narrow margin. In 1963 the Nominal GDP per capita was around $110. Park promised that within a decade, every Korean citizen would have a refrigerator and a car, luxuries that most people at the time wouldn't have dared to dream of. But Park set to work with a series of economic developments that positioned Korea as an international exporter. He positioned the country as a center for oil refining, and as a producer of metals to be used in manufacturing. Under Park, the country grew into one of the largest international producers and seller of ships.
That story specifically is actually rather amusing. The Koreans didn't know how to build ships. No one had ever done it before. There was no one with experience, no one with the equipment, and they didn't even have a proper dock or ship yard. Park basically bought all the parts along with what essentially amounted to a construction manual from another country, and set a team to work figuring out how to build industrial grade ships from scratch. He then set a second team to work building a dock for the boat at the same time. They build the boat in two pieces, and then went to assemble it, but the pieces didn't fit together. So they had to go back to work hammering and adjusting and what not. Finally, they got everything done, and put it in the water to see if it would float. And it did! Five years later, South Korea was one of the largest international exporters of industrial ships, and considered an expert on the matter.
And that is what Park did for the country. He had vision, and direction, and drive. But he also worked the people incredibly hard. The crews mentioned in the ship building story were working 20 hours a day for months on end. And that wasn't a rare occurrence under Park. Working conditions were terrible everywhere. And while wealth was finally beginning to flow into the country, park forcibly kept wages relatively low in order to maintain South Koreas viability as a major exporter. Cheap labor means cheap goods, which means high demand.
Politically, he too slowly degraded into an autocrat. He was reelected into his second term in 1967. Like Rhee, he then forced a measure through parliament that would allow him to seek a third term. This angered many people, and there were demonstrations. Still, somehow he managed to win a third election n 1971. Social unrest was growing again, and parliament was discussing ways of removing him from office. In 1972 he responded by declaring a state of national emergency, and with the reinstitution of martial law.
After establishing martial law, Park rewrites the constitution, essentially establishing himself as president for life, and giving him control over parliament. This new constitution also marks the beginning of the Fourth Republic, which was really a republic in name only. For the next 7 years he continues to grow the economy while keeping wages low and working conditions poor. He reacts to political opposition with an iron fist. Social unrest continues to increase until his eventual assassination by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency in 1979.
Park started off with good intentions, I am sure. And in truth, he did a lot of good things for the country. By the end of his 18 year reign across two separate constitutions and two instances of martial law, the Nominal GDP per capita had increased from just over $100 to $1795.
After the assassination, everything was chaos for a little while. The prime minister because president, but there was another military coup six days later. There were demonstrations and protests, a couple of massacres, some rearranging of people in office, and the constitution was rewritten yet again, thus establishing the beginning of the 5th republic.
A man named Chun is the president now, and has once again seized his position with military force. The Koreans are sort of tired of this, and don't trust him. He promises to only serve a single 7 year term, and starts to do many good things for the country. He improves working conditions, and ceases to force down wages. He builds museums and parks. The Korean economy flourishes. Still, because he seized power by military force, at the end of his term, the Koreans demand change. They want direct elections again, and there are protests and demonstrations. He adheres to the demands of the people, rewrites the constitution to allow for direct elections once again, and steps down from office in 1989. This marks the end of the 5th republic. In 1989 the Nominal GDP per capita had risen to $5551.
Finally in the 90's we see the beginning of the Korea we know today. For the first time in 40 years the government is run by a civilian, rather then military, leader. I think there have been 5 separate presidents over the past 20 years, though I won't go into detail on them. The important thing is that in the 6th Republic, South Korea has finally achieved a secure, democratic, developed society. Economic growth took off like crazy in the 90,s. By 2007 Nominal GDP per capita had hit the $20,000 milestone that some economist somewhere said was significant for some reason. Yay Korea!
So why have I dedicated a rather long blogpost to this topic? Why is it important to me? Because it helps me understand the culture of the society I am currently living in. That's a very intense and chaotic recent history. That's a lot of political strife to go through. And a large part of the population that lives here remembers it! The grandparents of the children I teach are the ones that worked the brutal hours under the oppressive regime of Park. The parents of the people my age are the ones who protested and demonstrated under different regimes, enduring brutal denial of civil rights and occasionally large massacres of civilians. All of this happened here not all that long ago. The people my age are the first generation in Korea to not remember any of that. Yet still, in their life time the Nominal GDP per capita has quadrupled, bringing wealth in their adult lives that they hardly could have imagined as children.
And the result, culturally, is that Korea currently exists in a state not dissimilar to the American 1950's. Having achieved an end to decades of struggle and hardship, and having obtained wealth and prosperity, maintaining the status quo is incredibly important here. They don't want social strife, and they don't desire cultural change. The result is an incredibly high emphasis placed on social norms, and the proper way to act. There is a lot of peer pressure towards being normal, and fitting in. The culture is somewhat materialistic, and much status is placed in brand-name clothing and electronics. Much more than in the states, if you can believe that.
But all the positive aspects of the 1950's also exists in Korean culture. There's a friendliness and a willingness to help each other. They have all the sweet but cheesy family values that we long ago stopped truly living by in the states. It's also an honorable society, with a relatively low crime rate. I was here for two weeks before I saw a single police car. And I still haven't seen a second one. Imagine spending a month in New York City and only seeing a single cop. It'd be weird, huh?
There's a place near one of the subway stations where I can barrow a bike for the day. I just show the guy my I.D. and he gives me a bike. I don't have to pay, or give him any information, or even leave my I.D. with him. I just get a free bike for the day with no questions asked. I'm supposed to bring it back by 6:00 PM. I asked my coworker what happens if I don't bring it back in time. She said, "Wow, um, I imagine he would probably call the police assuming something had happened to you." That's right, he would call the police not because he'd think that I stole the bike. No, his assumption would be that I'm in mortal peril. That's Korea for you.
But, I wonder what will happen as this younger generation, the one that I am teaching, grows up. They are the first generation to be born into wealth, and to have the freedom to obtain knowledge that the Internet provides. I imagine they will be more individualistic and culturally independent than the generations before them. And with every successive generation, the culture will become more removed from the pain and fear that living under an oppressive regime creates. So, Korea may be a bit in the 1950's right now, but I imagine that their 1960's are on the horizon.
The interesting thing is though, that while the Korean culture is a bit socially limiting, it really works and functions much better than our 1950's did. Well, to be fair they don't have Jim Crow laws and oppressive gender expectations to deal with. So, perhaps their 60's will be less full of strife, and more like an awakening to individuality. Or perhaps I'm wrong and the status quo will be maintained for quite a long time.
In any case, it's a fascinating culture, and I'm very much honored to have the opportunity to observe it. Until next time.
-Mongoose
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