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June Struggle


The June Struggle (Hangul6월 민주항쟁; Hanja六月民主抗爭), also known as the June Democracy Movement and June Democratic Uprising was a nationwide democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to June 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ruling government to hold elections and institute other democratic reforms which led to the establishment of the Sixth Republic, the present day government of South Korea.

On June 10th, the military regime of President Chun Doo-hwan announced its choice of Roh Tae-woo as the next president. The public designation of Chun's successor was seen as a final affront to a delayed and deferred process to revise the South Korean constitution to permit direct election of the President. Although pressure on the regime, in the form of demonstrations by students and other groups, had been building for some time, the announcement finally triggered massive and effective protests.

Unwilling to resort to violence before the 1988 Olympic Games, and (correctly) believing that Roh could win competitive elections anyway given divisions within the opposition, Chun and Roh acceded to the key demands of direct presidential elections and restoration of civil liberties. Although Roh was duly elected as president that December with a bare plurality, the democratic consolidation of South Korea was fully underway.

Since the 1972 implementation of the Yusin Constitution by then president Park Chung-hee, South Korean presidents were elected indirectly by an electoral college. This system persisted even after Park was assassinated and replaced by Choi Kyu-ha, who was himself replaced by Chun after the Coup d'état of December Twelfth. Since the college was generally hand picked by the regime itself, it did not represent any sort of democratic check on presidential power.


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