The short lived declaration of martial law in Korea by President Yun earlier this month (December 2024) shocked everyone and resonated strongly with the nation's political history during the latter half of the 20th century. My own shock was based partly on personal experience. I taught English at Kangwon National University when Park Chung Hee, was president. The Fall semester of 1972 was shortened and came to an abrupt end when President Park imposed his Yushin "revitalizing reforms" to strengthen the military control over government. I still recall the day in October 1972 when I saw the military enter campuses, including a half tracked armored vehicle clanking up the road to enter the Songshim Women's University (now the campus of Hallym University in Chuncheon).
On my return to the U.S. following Peace Corps service, I completed the Ph.D. in communication at Stanford and began a teaching career at the U. of Texas in Austin. That was where I was located in the Fall of 1979 when President Park Chung Hee was assassinated by the chief of his CIA. After the assassination general Chun Doo Hwan took power in a staged military coup that culminated in the Kwangju pro-democracy uprising in the Spring of 1980.
During the 1980s, opposition to military government grew and demonstrations by students and activists steadily increased until there was a breakthrough in June of 1987. (the famous June 29 declaration televised address by Roh Tae Woo, who would later be elected President) As it happened, I had been awarded a senior Fulbright grant to teach and conduct research at Yonsei University in the 1985-86 academic year. The anti-military government demonstrations at Yonsei University were quite active in the Spring of 1986 and I personally witnessed quite a bit of the violence and smelled a lot of tear gas.
For more of the historical context of martial law in Korea during the latter half of the 20th century, see this Canadian Journal of Communication article that I wrote along with Sogang University Professor Kim Hak Soo.