KarateMomUSA
Black Belt
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2010
- Messages
- 552
- Reaction score
- 3
Gen Park took over by military coup on May 16, 1961. He ruled over a brutal regime with an iron fist till he was shot by his own KCIA Director on Oct 26, 1979. He is both hated & loved, earning the title of father of the Korean economic miracle.
He was succeeded by one of his henceman Gen Chun Do Hwan, who seized on the disorder & chaos after the previous dictator was killed. His brutality is highlighted by the awful KwangJu massacre. He was eventually forced out as the 1988 Olympics was approaching & loud voices of protest looked to take advantage of the coming world wide attention. There were fears that the Summer Olympics would be canceled or the site changed. This could not be allowed to happen, as boycotts by the USA & USSR in 1980 & 1984 respectfully had already put the Olympics on shaky ground.
He was suceeded by one of his henceman Gen Ro Tae Woo. While this General was elected, there were questions of impropriety. In all fairness this General appears to have been a fair president. He helped calm Korea & gave it a great face for the world to see in the summer of 1988. We may never fully know if the elections were rigged & to what extent, but the bottom line was that the opposition was split by the 2 Kims, Kim Young Sam & Kim Dae Jung, both center-left politicians who would be elected back to back in the 1990s after the last military general served. The 2 Kims were the 1st in a so far never ending string of democratically elected civilian presidents who now serve a single 5 year term. This is what made south Korea the rich democratic nation of today.
To more fully understand the development & history of TKD one must know Korean history, politics & how that impacted TKD, both in a negative & positive way.
He was succeeded by one of his henceman Gen Chun Do Hwan, who seized on the disorder & chaos after the previous dictator was killed. His brutality is highlighted by the awful KwangJu massacre. He was eventually forced out as the 1988 Olympics was approaching & loud voices of protest looked to take advantage of the coming world wide attention. There were fears that the Summer Olympics would be canceled or the site changed. This could not be allowed to happen, as boycotts by the USA & USSR in 1980 & 1984 respectfully had already put the Olympics on shaky ground.
He was suceeded by one of his henceman Gen Ro Tae Woo. While this General was elected, there were questions of impropriety. In all fairness this General appears to have been a fair president. He helped calm Korea & gave it a great face for the world to see in the summer of 1988. We may never fully know if the elections were rigged & to what extent, but the bottom line was that the opposition was split by the 2 Kims, Kim Young Sam & Kim Dae Jung, both center-left politicians who would be elected back to back in the 1990s after the last military general served. The 2 Kims were the 1st in a so far never ending string of democratically elected civilian presidents who now serve a single 5 year term. This is what made south Korea the rich democratic nation of today.
To more fully understand the development & history of TKD one must know Korean history, politics & how that impacted TKD, both in a negative & positive way.