ABSTRACT
Koreas had to cope with unsettling changes. The assassination of President Park Chung-hee in September 1979 catapulted South Korea into a morass of uncertainty. The country remained stable, and the government began cautiously easing restraints on political activity. Chun Doo Hwan ruled over a more complex and sophisticated society than Park had at the outset of his period as president. The dominant reactions of the public to Chun's formal accession to power were resignation and relief. Preparations for the leadership succession dominated the North Korean political scene in the early 1980s. At the beginning of the 1980s, economic growth in North Korea continued to be governed by the second seven-year lan, which straddled the change of decades. South Korea, where exports constitute 37 percent of its gross domestic product, as compared to Japan's 14 percent, is thus critically dependent on the condition of the world economy.
