250 Korea, Republic of The capital of the Republic of Korea is Seoul (above), located near the border with North Korea The Republic of Korea had an estimated population of 48,422,644 in 2005 and has a government based on a presidential model In December 1979 General Chun Doo Hwan, a veteran of the Vietnam War, came to power in a coup Within months he declared martial law Charging that pro-democracy student demonstrations in Kwangju Province had been instigated by North Korean infiltrators, he acquired emergency powers that would allow him to disregard any constitutionally recognized rights of the people He also embarked on a campaign to root out those who criticized his regime Among those he arrested were three longtime civilian critics of authoritarian rule: Kim Young Sam, Kim Dae Jung, and Kim Jong Pil But protests persisted, and in 1987 Chun stepped aside in favor of his handpicked successor, Roh Tae Woo, who won a presidential election with only 36 percent of the vote Under Roh, South Korea began to pursue new directions in foreign policy in keeping with the geopolitical trend that hearkened the end of antagonistic camps in the cold war Roh followed up on an earlier proposal to exchange visits between North and South Korea Following sports and cultural exchanges, the two countries signed the 1991 Basic Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, and Cooperation of Exchanges Politics in South Korea followed a pattern of democraticization from the late 1980s onward Kim Young Sam, a longtime critic of Park Chung Hee’s authoritarian rule, emerged victorious in the 1992 presidential elections, becoming the first civilian president in more than three decades Kim initiated a campaign to root out longtime corruption in government Both the former presidents Chun and Roh were indicted for corruption and their roles in the 1979 military coup Kim Young Sam also faced pressure to liberalize the South Korean economy Widely recognized as one of the