On March 3, 1981, Chun Doo-hwan inaugurated his 7-year presidency as the head of the Fifth Republic, by outlining his policies and programs, pledging to build just society guaranteeing welfare of all citizens-and to create an era of economic progress and social justice. Chun’s ascendance to power, however, was not without its attendant difficulties.
During the transitional period from Park’s assassination in October 1979 to his inauguration in March 1981, he had to play a tightrope performance in paving the way for his own rise to power. First, he had to eliminate the general officers within the military who stood in his way. They included the incumbent army chief of staff, Gen. Chung Sung-hwa and his followers, whom he succeeded in rounding up with a show of force provided by tanks of Maj. Gen. Roh Tae-woo’s Ninth Division on the ground that Gen. Chung had been involved in the assassination of the late President Park.
Chun then set out to create a terrorized atmosphere in an attempt to silence criticisms and to remove the potential presidential aspirants. To that end, Martial Law Decree No. 10 was proclaimed to ban all forms of political activities and labor strikes, closed all universities and colleges, and imposed censorship on the press and televisions. Kim Jong-pil, Lee Hu-rak, Pak Chong-kyu and seven other prominent leaders of the Park era were put under arrest on charge of corruption.
Kim Dae-jung was arrested on trumped-up charges of conspiring to overthrow the government, and Kim Yong-sam was placed under house arrest. The National Assembly was also closed. However, student demonstrations demanding liberalization and ouster of political generals started to escalate in the spring of 1980, which alarmed Chun and his fellow generals. And Kim Dae-jung’s arrest touched off violent demonstrations in Kwangju, the traditional stronghold of the politician hailing from that region. The subsequent 9-day bloody demonstrations were finally put down by all-out assault launched by army paratroopers backed by tanks, which resulted in several hundred casualties by an official count.
During Chun Doo-hwan’s administration, many outdated and cumbersome reg-ulations and laws were either eliminated or simplified. The midnight to 4 a.m. curfew which had been in effect for 36 years was lifted and restrictions on international travels were relaxed. Inflation was brought down to an annual rate of less than 5 percent. The Fifth 5-Year Economic Development Plan, which was drawn up during his administration to cover the period from 1982 to 1986, projected a growth rate of 7.6 percent in real GNP.Perhaps the one most valuable legacy Chun left as Chief of State was his voluntary surrender of power as he had repeatedly sworn to do. Which was quite remarkable in view of the fact that he found no precedent in which a head of state relinquished his power at the end of his term in the 50-year history since the end of World War II. The tradition established by Chun was carried on by Roh Tae-woo when he released his in a peaceful transfer of power to his lawful successor, Kim Young-sam, in 1992.