Republic of Korea (KOR)East Asia, AsiaMay 17, 1980
Event Summary
On May 17, 1980 General Chun Doo-hwan expanded martial law across all of South Korea, seizing effective control of the state from the civilian caretaker government of President Choi Kyu-hah and triggering the Gwangju uprising the next day. Following the October 1979 assassination of the dictator Park Chung-hee, Chun, head of the Defense Security Command, had already seized control within the military in the December 12, 1979 coup, while Choi served as a figurehead president. As pro-democracy protests grew during the Seoul Spring of 1980, Chun forced the cabinet on May 17 to extend martial law nationwide, closing universities, banning political activity, curbing the press, and arresting opposition figures including Kim Dae-jung.
Troops were deployed nationwide. On May 18 the citizens of Gwangju rose up and were violently crushed by the army over nine days. Choi was forced to resign in August, and Chun took the presidency in September.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Choi Kyu-hah, the figurehead civilian president stripped of remaining authority by Chun's May 17, 1980 martial-law expansion; Choi was not physically harmed and resigned in August 1980.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Choi Kyu-hah (figurehead president displaced)
Chun Doo-hwan (general who seized power)
Kim Dae-jung (opposition leader arrested)
Sources
The Coup d'etat of May Seventeenth was a military coup staged by General Chun Doo-hwan on 17 May 1980 against the civilian government of President Choi Kyu-hah, when Chun forced the Cabinet to extend martial law to the whole nation, closing universities, banning political activities, and further curtailing the press.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Coup d'etat of May Seventeenthopen source ↗
On the same day the Korean Central Intelligence Agency raided a national conference of student union leaders from 55 universities, about 2,700 people including 26 politicians were arrested, and on May 18, 1980 citizens of Gwangju rose up against Chun's military dictatorship and took control of the city before being violently crushed by the army over a nine-day uprising.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Coup d'etat of May Seventeenthopen source ↗
In mid-August 1980 President Choi Kyu-hah was forced to resign as president to give way to Chun, who took power in September 1980, after the National Conference for Unification voted for Chun as president with 99.96% in favor and he took office on 1 September 1980.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Coup d'etat of May Seventeenthopen source ↗
Even though South Korea had a president, Choi, real political power was held by Chun and his group of officers, and on May 17, 1980 Chun declared Martial Law Decree No. 10, which expanded its reach across the whole nation, with universities closed and political figures apprehended, including Kim Dae-jung, Kim Young-sam, and Kim Jong-pil.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Coup d'etat of May Seventeenthopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup with a not-physically-harmed fate; it was the decisive seizure of state power by Chun Doo-hwan through a nationwide martial-law expansion that reduced the civilian president Choi Kyu-hah to a figurehead. Choi was not physically harmed and was forced to resign in August 1980, matching the fate. Arc link: this connects directly to the December 12, 1979 coup by which Chun first seized control within the military (a distinct earlier dataset event), and it precipitated the Gwangju uprising and Chun's formal assumption of the presidency in September 1980. Massacre context handled neutrally and cited: the May 18 Gwangju uprising was violently suppressed; death-toll estimates are contested and are recorded as such rather than asserted, with the event attributed to sources. Neutrality: this is a contested subject in Korean politics; the record confines itself to the documented sequence. Aftermath: Chun ruled until 1988; he was later convicted over the 1979 and 1980 events, a separate later development.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Choi Kyu-hah, the figurehead civilian president stripped of remaining authority by Chun's May 17, 1980 martial-law expansion; Choi was not physically harmed and resigned in August 1980..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Gen. Chun Seoul’s new ‘strongman’,” by Donald Kirk, May 19, 1980
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →