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Introduction
Research into the reunification of Korea has focused on the governmental policies of North and South Korea, as well as the policies of countries involved with them. The views expressed within Korean civil society about reunification have not been given much consideration. It is difficult, therefore, to gauge what the Korean people themselves think of reunification and how opinions differ among discrete sociopolitical groups in Korea, such as the conservatives, liberals, and radicals.
For the most part, activists in South Korea's political parties and social movements have not expressed strong opinions about reunification. In North Korea, it is very difficult to find political parties and social movements independent of state power. It is much easier to do this in the South, but even in this half of Korea, such groups have seldom considered reunification to be a burning issue. However, during the April Revolution period of 1960-61, reunification suddenly became an important issue.
In April 1960, an outbreak of student demonstrations in reaction to a rigged presidential election on March 15 of that year caused the downfall of the Syngman Rhee regime (1948-60) in South Korea. After the April Revolution, the more democratic Chang Myon regime was established. Shortly after that, South Koreans began intensive debates on reunification, seven years after the Korean War armistice in 1953. The problems of reunification occupied much newspaper space, and reunification became the pivotal issue in South Korea as the civil movement for reunification erupted.
However, after less than a year a military coup brought to an end all grassroots activities for reunification. Immediately after the coup on May 16, 1961, the military junta arrested approximately 2,500 activists in reformist parties and social organizations and charged them with procommunist and pro-North Korean activities. Any discussion of reunification outside the government's formal reunification policy was severely restricted by the military regime through abusive application of the National Security Law and the Anticommunist Law.
Although these debates on reunification were cut short, and the issues and the context of the debates have changed significantly due to sweeping political and economic changes in South Korea, this period still represents the most intense discussion of the issue in South Korea to date. In addition, many political groups still take the same basic...