Revenge for the Kwanju massacre
The recent elevation of the long time bourgeois dissident Kim Dae-jung to the Korean presidency is not a victory for democracy, but it is a defeat for the ruling camp and its policy of regional divide-and-rule. It is also a form of revenge for the deliberate economic exclusion of the south-western Cholla Provinces from South Korea's long economic boom. Terry Lawless A comprehension of Korean regional loyalties and antagonisms is central to any attempt to understanding this election result.
Under the rule of President Park Chung-hee (1961-79), there emerged a strategic pole of military, political and economic power whose centre of gravity