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Civil Resistance Movement Essay

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Another successful civil resistance movement in South East Asia was during the 1980’s in South Korea, this movement was significantly influenced by the peoples power movement during the 1980’s in the Philippines which was also successful. South Korea was also very heavily influenced by religion by a strong catholic ethos throughout the country. The government tried to ‘cleanse’ the country between 1980 and 1983 to try to silence all democratic activists, many of whom were purged or arrested according to (Lakey, 2009). After 1983, the authoritarian president Chun Doo Hwan was afraid that he may not be re-elected due to the hostility he had shown towards the democratic activists, thereafter he released many of these from prison in hope that his wrong doing would be forgotten and …show more content…

In 1985, the ‘New Korea Democratic Party’ became the main opposition in the National Assembly. The leader of this party came back to Korea after two years in exile, facing possible arrest or death, but had two congressional representatives accompanying him for protection. This clearly shows that much like the civil resistance movement in the Philippines, America aided the country in becoming a democracy. South Korea, like the Philippines, built good relations with the United States during and after World War II, this shows that for a peaceful civil resistance to be successful, they must have both powerful religious factors and good alliances with powerful countries. If the powerful countries see a country which they have good alliances with being demeaned by a corrupt government, they often feel the need to intervene and try to come to a peaceful conclusion. South Korea is a predominately influenced by Christianity, therefore, like the Philippines, there seems to be a link between being a religious country and opposing

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