How did the era in which everyone considers themselves a 'democrat' come about?
The final installment of Professor Kim Jeong-in's "Democratic Korean History" trilogy.

Professor Kim Jeong-in of Chuncheon National University of Education's three-part series on "Democratic Korean History" has been published in its entirety as the modern history volume "Democracy for All" after 10 years.
It covers the modern history of Korean democracy, from the dawn of Korean democracy in the 19th century (Part 1, “History Toward Democracy”) and the independence movement during the Japanese colonial period (Part 2, “Democracy Dreaming of Independence”) to the candlelight protests of the 2000s after liberation.
Like previous works that reinterpreted and reconstructed each era through democratic concepts, this book also approaches the issue structurally by extracting seven concepts: "America, anti-communism, nation, development, dictatorship, people, and civil society."

The author says that today is the 'era of democracy for all', where democracy has become an absolute belief for everyone.
We live in an age where democracy is the standard by which good and evil are distinguished, and where everyone (even dictators) considers themselves to be democrats.
How was this era of democracy for all formed?
And what will be the future direction of democratic history?
I hope that the trilogy "Democracy for All" and "A History of Democracy in Korea" will serve as a catalyst for re-examining democracy, which is still being newly discovered and changing.

The US military government's rule ended with the establishment of the Republic of Korea government on August 15, 1948.
During its three-year rule, the US military government focused on spreading democracy, especially American-style democracy, to Koreans.
He traveled to every corner of the country promoting American-style democracy.
They showed propaganda films and produced millions of magazines and pamphlets, which they distributed by plane.
In this way, the US military government criticized the communism of the Soviet Union and North Korea through an overwhelming offensive of material and promoted the superiority of American democracy.
We produced and promoted cultural programs that showcased not only the democratic system of the United States but also democratic society and life.
They used the presence or absence of freedom as a yardstick to distinguish between the democratic and communist frameworks.
As the May 10 elections approached, the US military government promoted and promoted to Koreans that free elections were the core of democracy.
The US military government's massive campaign of propaganda and promotion of democracy instilled in Koreans the image of "America = democracy."

---From "Chapter 1 Democracy Created by the United States"

The government of the Republic of Korea was established on August 15, 1948.
According to Article 1 of the Constitution, the Republic of Korea began as a democratic republic.
However, the Syngman Rhee government obstructed the liquidation of pro-Japanese collaborators at the starting point of the democratic republic, massacred citizens in Jeju Island, Yeosu, and Suncheon, and enacted the National Security Act, which restricted freedom of thought and speech.
And in June 1949, the Syngman Rhee government launched the June Offensive, suppressing the left and opposition in succession.
The ideological prosecutors formed the National Press Association and recruited people with leftist backgrounds, and the police raided the Special Committee on Anti-National Activities.
The young lawmakers who led the punishment of pro-Japanese collaborators, land reform, opposed the enactment of the National Security Act, and called for the withdrawal of foreign troops were arrested on charges of being North Korean spies.
And Kim Gu was shot by Ahn Doo-hee, an intelligence agent for the US military counterintelligence unit.
The Syngman Rhee government launched a groundbreaking offensive to eliminate political opponents and established an anti-communist mobilization system.

---From "Chapter 2 Democracy Captured by Anti-Communism"

The Park Chung-hee government, which came to power after winning the 1963 presidential election, rushed to conclude the Korea-Japan Agreement.
In the end, Japan's settlement of the past, which required it to acknowledge that its colonial rule was illegal and provide compensation, was not achieved.
When the Park Chung-hee government attempted to conclude the Korea-Japan Agreement on the condition of receiving aid from Japan in the name of claims, a fierce opposition movement arose not only from the opposition party but also from students and civil society.
Seoul National University students held a 'funeral for national democracy', criticizing the falsity of national democracy promoted by the Park Chung-hee government.
As student protests against the Korea-Japan Agreement intensified, the Park Chung-hee government declared martial law on June 3, 1963, less than eight months after the transfer of power to civilian rule.
The concerns of students and intellectuals that Park Chung-hee's national democracy would eventually become the foundation of dictatorship became reality.
In this way, the movement against the Korea-Japan Agreement brought back nationalism, which had erupted through the unification movement immediately after April 19th and then sunk beneath the surface with the May 16th coup.
And through the movement against the Korea-Japan Agreement, the discourse of democracy, which had once again encountered nationalism, began to play the role of an anti-government counter-discourse.
---From "Chapter 3 Democracy that Summoned the Nation"

In the 1960s, Korea entered an era of development.
The United States, which established an economic development plan under the military government and changed the direction of its aid to promote the modernization of underdeveloped countries, became a staunch supporter of the economic development promoted by the military government and the Park Chung-hee government.
From the mid-1960s, economic growth began in earnest as export promotion was promoted under the desperate slogan, “Exports are the only way to survive.”
As economic development became the absolute goal of the nation, the people became the target of total mobilization.
The military government's national reconstruction movement as a mobilization system for development was ineffective, but the Saemaul Movement of the 1970s was effective.
The discourses of private-sector-led economic development, government-led economic development, and social democratic development that emerged in the 1950s all acknowledged the inevitability of economic development plans and yearned for economic growth.
For the military government and the Park Chung-hee government, economic development was the only path that had to precede democracy and even be pursued at the expense of democracy.

---From "Chapter 4: Development and Democracy in Discord"

The democratization movement of the 1970s was a rare event worldwide in terms of its intensity and sustainability.
This strength and persistence came from the solidarity of the 'movement society,' also known as the movement circle.
A movement society is a society in which social movements are widespread, exert power, and lead change.
The democratization movement forces that came together in the anti-Yushin movement formed a movement society based on mutual solidarity.
The student movement created a culture of student activists through ideological circles, and the opposition formed solidarity organizations at every political juncture and intensified the anti-Yushin movement.
This culture of solidarity developed to the point that organizations involved in the democratization movement and social movements established permanent solidarity organizations in the 1980s.
The human rights movement emerged in the 1970s during the anti-Yushin movement, seeking the release of prisoners of conscience and protecting human rights, and developed into an independent social movement through the 1980s.
---From "Chapter 5 Democracy Against Dictatorship"

The June Struggle of 1987 was also an important turning point in the people's movement.
The 'Great Labor Struggle' that erupted immediately after the June Struggle gave birth to many democratic labor unions and formed labor movement organizations based on them.
In the 1990s, the labor movement became the center of social movements, and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the national central organization of democratic labor unions, was born.
In the peasant movement, the National Peasant Federation, a national organization, was formed in 1990, and in the poor movement, the National Poor People's Alliance, a national organization, was formed in 1989.
It took half a century after liberation for the people to become the main actors and form a nationwide organization for the people's movement.
The nationwide organization of the people's movement led to the formation of a mass progressive party that sought to represent the people, and finally, in 2004, the progressive Democratic Labor Party succeeded in entering the National Assembly.
---From "Chapter 6: Democracy Encounters the People"

Entering the 2000s, citizens took to the squares and fulfilled their duties as sovereign citizens.
From the candlelight protests that began in 2002 to protest the death of a middle school student by a US military armored vehicle, to the candlelight protests against the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004, the candlelight protests against the import of US beef in 2008, the candlelight protests protesting the Park Geun-hye administration's attitude toward the Sewol ferry disaster, the candlelight protests demanding President Park Geun-hye's resignation that took place from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2017, and the cheering stick protests demanding President Yoon Seok-yeol's resignation that began in the winter of 2024, citizens gathered in squares and united to create a democratic world.
“The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic.
He himself embodied Article 1 of the Constitution, which states, “The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea emanates from the people.”
The 2016 candlelight protests that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye were a civil revolution achieved through the collaboration of direct democracy and representative democracy based on popular sovereignty.
And now, amidst the ripples of history from the 2016 candlelight protests, we once again take to the streets in the winter of 2024.

---From "Chapter 7 Democracy Brought to Life by Civil Society"