@article{ART003297792},
author={Kim Jihoon},
title={Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution},
journal={The Review of Korean History},
issn={1225-133X},
year={2025},
number={160},
pages={227-268}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim Jihoon
TI - Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution
JO - The Review of Korean History
PY - 2025
VL - null
IS - 160
PB - The Historical Society Of Korea
SP - 227
EP - 268
SN - 1225-133X
AB - This study analyzes the movements of the martial law forces and their perceptions of the demonstrators during the conjuncture of the April 1960 April Revolution, elucidates the process through which the narrative of the military’s “political neutrality” was constructed, and traces the process of Political Subjectification through which the military linked the April Revolution to the May 16 military revolt. During the April Revolution, the martial law forces’ purported policy of prohibiting live fire was ambiguous as to whether it existed in substance, and in any case it was the outcome of the military’s political choice. In fact, this “no-shoot” policy rested less on considerations of safeguarding constitutional government and the sovereign citizenry, or of political neutrality, than on an elitist view of the people and a national security-minded outlook, as well as distrust toward conscripted soldiers.
The martial law forces pursued Political Subjectification by bifurcating the revolution according to whether the demonstrators were violent, and in this process the narrative of “political neutrality” was retroactively ratified. After the April Revolution, the government adopted measures to neutralize the military. Yet, within the liberal intellectual structure of the time, fundamental reflection on political neutrality was avoided. Rather, the military sustained a sense of privilege that excluded interference from parliamentary politics by positioning itself as an inseparable National Instrument of the state. Consequently, the military’s “political neutrality” was appropriated as a pretext in internal factional conflicts, exposing vulnerability to insurgent forces within the military.
In conclusion, the military’s narrative of “political neutrality” during the April Revolution reflected political aversion and a privileged consciousness equating the military with the state, without serious concern for constitutionalism and the sovereign people, and it functioned as an ideological mechanism for the May 16 military revolt.
KW - 4.19 Revolution;April Revolution;Martial Law;Military’s Political Neutrality;May 16 Coup;Song Yo-chan;Park Chung-hee;Civil–Military Relations;national security;National Instrument;fascism
DO -
UR -
ER -
Kim Jihoon. (2025). Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution. The Review of Korean History, 160, 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. 2025, "Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution", The Review of Korean History, no.160, pp.227-268.
Kim Jihoon "Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution" The Review of Korean History 160 pp.227-268 (2025) : 227.
Kim Jihoon. Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution. 2025; 160 : 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. "Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution" The Review of Korean History no.160(2025) : 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution. The Review of Korean History, 160, 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution. The Review of Korean History. 2025; 160 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution. 2025; 160 : 227-268.
Kim Jihoon. "Professing “Political Neutrality” and the Construction of a Political Interventionist Mindset: The South Korean Military during the 1960 April Revolution" The Review of Korean History no.160(2025) : 227-268.
