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영어

On 1979, after the sudden death of former president Park Chung-hee, the new military junta of Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo took power through a military coup on December 12, 1979 by organizing the Army Security Command. Then on May 17, 1980, Chun Doo-hwan extended emergency martial law nationwide and conducted a coup. As nationwide protests and the Gwangju Democratization Movement took place against the coup, Chun crushed the protests with military power. On August 22, 1980, Chun discharged as a four-star army general, and the following month became the 11th president of Korea with rubber-stamp electorates. Chun held his presidency until February 1988. On December 12, 1979, when Chun and Roh Tae-woo took power by coup, they imprisoned any opposing individuals and promoted themselves as high-ranking generals while ignoring military law. While Chun and Roh ignored the Awarding Law, they awarded the Order of Military Merit to whoever cooperated during the December 12 military revolt in 1979. Also, on June 20, 1980, just one month after the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, they awarded Orders of Military Merit to their military followers. The “Order of Merit party” is not just a past incident in Korean society. Not only under Chun’s military junta, but also under later democratic governments, such overissuances took place. Even under the Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak governments, the military held such “parties” by themselves. The “self-awards” of the military were mocked by the general public. On March 12, 2006, the Roh Moo-hyun government held a Cabinet meeting and decided to do the following : Cancel and collect 16 Orders of Military Merit from former awardees, including Chun and Roh Tae-woo, in relation to the December 12, 1979 military revolt and suppression of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980; 􁭑 According to Article 7 of the “May 18 Democratization Movement Special Act,” cancel and collect Orders of Merit from 67 awardees, including Park Jun-byung, in relation to the suppression of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. However, until now, of the cancelled awardees, only Chun and Jang Sae-dong have returned their Orders of Military Merit to the government. What is worse, although Chun and Roh Tae-woo both received the “Grand Order of Mugungwha” after retiring from the presidency, these orders were not cancelled. This is the shape of our society. In this paper, I will examine the “Order of Merit party” and cancellations of Orders of Merit issued to Chun Doo-hwan’s new military junta. Then I will look into the situation of this period as a “struggle of memory” in our forgetful society.