Last month, a movie titled "12.12: The Day" was released. It is about the military coup-d’état of Dec. 12, 1979, that eventually led to Chun Doo-hwan becoming president of the Republic of Korea in 1980. As of the time of writing, more than seven million Koreans have seen the movie, which is titled "Seoul's Spring" in Korean.
Just two months short of the coup, on Oct. 29, Kim Jae-gyu, then director of Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) murdered the South Korean President Park Chung-hee and his Secret Service chief, which originated from a vendetta against the Chief of Security and the social unrest at the time. This murder was followed by the declaration of martial law with full powers going to the Army Chief of Staff Jeong Seung-hwa.
Although, there was no direct evidence showing Gen. Jeong having any involvement or knowledge of the incident, Jeong was in an adjacent building upon the invitation of the KCIA director when the shots were fired. This was good enough to prompt suspicion and speculation that Jeong was part of the original assassination plot. Especially by Major General Chun, who, as the Commander of the Security Command, was charged to investigate the assassination.
Another more important aspect was the deep-rooted rivalries within the South Korean military between the old guard, those who originally formed the Korean Army and fought during the Korean War, and the new generation, especially officers who graduated from the Korea Military Academy. The rift soon became evident when Jeong wanted to relieve Chun and reassign him to the eastern front.
Chun, who was an ambitious and charismatic leader, was able to utilize the full advantage of his supporters assigned as commanders of Combat units around or near Seoul. Particularly, the commanders of the three brigades of the Capital Defense Command that were responsible for protecting the president were led by Chun's allies.
Chun and his cronies made sure that the commanders of opposing units were preoccupied and incorporated the support of unit commanders that could oppose their move. Additionally, Chun’s Security Command, which was created in part to prevent coups, used their authority to monitor and legally eavesdrop on all military communication, to ensure that resistance would be minimal at best. In the early evening of Dec. 12, 1979, the Military Police under Chun’s control attempted to arrest the Army Chief of Staff Jeong on charges of bribery and suspicion with the assassination. This was where the first shots were fired and Jeong was in their custody.
Without the Chief of the Army, the rest of the Korean Army General Staff gathered at the Ministry of National Defense, which had the closest fortified bunker. The Army General Staff tried to persuade Chun to give up his attempts but to no avail. The Commander of the ROK Special Forces and the Commander of the Capital Defense Command attempted to rally their troops but they were outnumbered. The Special Forces Commander was arrested by his own men and with less than a hundred men the Capital Defense Commander had no chance to overturn the coup. Chun's units stormed and occupied Army Headquarters and the Ministry of National Defense. Gun fire was heard in the center of Seoul. During the arrest of the Special Forces Commander, Major Kim O-rang, who was his executive officer, was given a chance to save himself from the onslaught. Kim refused and was killed while protecting his commander.
By dawn of Dec. 13, Chun was able to subdue all resistance. The coup could have been thwarted many times during that night but Chun was able to secure the Korean military and quickly consolidated the rest of the Korean government. Three men laid dead and scores more injured.
It seemed an easy win for Chun but by May, the Korea citizens demanded a return of basic freedoms that culminated in the student demonstrations in the city of Gwangju. The Korean military used full force to intimidate the demonstrators but it spiraled into a full-fledged armed revolt that lasted 11 days with an official death toll of 165 civilians, 23 military and four police deaths, as well as over 3,000 injured. Amid the ensuing eight years of authoritarian rule South Korea did make progress, such as hosting the 1988 Olympics, generating significant economic growth and the transfer of political power. But despite these achievements, the illegitimate nature of the Chun regime and the subsequent administration still remained.
The film reminds us that taking power by unlawful means can never be condoned. It also reminds us of the heroism of a few that tried to prevent this from happening no matter how futile. Most importantly, a coup in Korea can never happen again.
Chun In-bum (truechun@naver.com) served as a lieutenant general of the ROK Army and commander of Special Forces Korea.
