Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Demilitarization of South Korea's Military Junta and Its Significance: A Transactional Perspective

Huatai Chen*
Shenzhen MSU-BIT University

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

The developmental miracle of South Korea during the era of military junta rule in the last century has attracted worldwide attention. The success of its democratization is often portrayed as the outcome of civic resistance and international pressure, yet this overlooks the fact that both factors were present in the democratic transitions of most countries under military rule— Among which peaceful transitions were hardly the norm. By comparison, South Korea's transactional democratization under military rule offers valuable lessons. Pressured by the easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula and a crisis of legitimacy, the military-political elites, in order to avoid the risk of prosecution and maximize their interests, gradually engaged in bargains with the civilian government and the chaebol, facilitating democratic transition. Through this concrete exchange of interests,South Korea finally saw the emergence of a democratic republic after five successive military juntas, giving rise to a distinctive path of peaceful "transactional democratization" by the military. Study of this path enriches the comparative cases for the problem of military-civilian decoupling in diverse Global South countries, and may also offer insights into addressing the entrenched collusion between chaebols and politicians in contemporary South Korea.

Keywords: South Korean military junta; demilitarization; Chun Doo-hwan; Roh Tae-woo; developing countries
Published: September 22, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.HT37108
Volume: CHR Vol.122
pp. 14-20
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