He had neither experience in the national independence movement nor a background in the military, but he reached the pinnacle of power. He is the shortest unfortunate person in office in South Korean history, implementing restrictive nationalization reforms, which ushered in the short-lived Seoul Spring for the people, and was nicknamed Choi Lezhnev by netizens because he looked like Brezhnev in the former Soviet Union. He is South Korea's fourth ** Choi Gyu-ha.
On July 16, 1919, Choi Gyu-ha was born into a traditional middle-class family in Wonju, Gangwon Province, South Korea. Influenced by her family, Choi Gyu-ha received a traditional education similar to the Four Books and Five Classics when she was a child. After going to school, he still liked to read Confucian classics, so the Confucian idea of moderation was deeply ingrained in Cui Guixia's heart, and it also had an important impact on his later life.
After graduating from the first university in Beijing, Cui Guixia went to Tokyo Higher Normal School in Japan to study English Xi, and then continued to study political management at the puppet Manchukuo University.
After returning to China, Choi Gyu-ha worked as an assistant professor at Seoul National University Teachers College, where he ushered in an important turning point in his life. At the age of 27, due to his outstanding English skills and the experience of studying in Japan, Choi Gyu-ha was appreciated by Foreign Minister Bian Yongtai and entered *** to become the Minister of Representative to Japan, and since then he has embarked on his political career. Choi Gyu-ha's early political career was largely centered around diplomatic work.
From 1946 to 1971, Choi served as Consul General of the Japanese Delegation, Counselor of the Japanese Representation, Ambassador to Malaysia, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs. Choi Gyu-ha has indeed demonstrated his outstanding talent in foreign affairs.
Before the 70s, South Korea was not treated in the Middle East because it was pro-Israel, and in the 70s, it wanted to get along with the Middle East because it was more and more dependent on Middle Eastern oil. Choi Gyu-ha, then South Korea's foreign minister, visited the Middle East, completed negotiations as an advance force, and successfully obtained friendly treatment from Arab countries, creating conditions for South Korean enterprises to enter the Middle East and alleviating the impact of the oil crisis on South Korea to a great extent. helped the Korean economy to return blood.
Choi Gyu-ha has not only been promoted repeatedly, but has pursued a quiet foreign policy. This policy has changed the style of South Korea's hard-line and belligerent wolf warrior diplomacy and achieved remarkable results in improving South Korea's international image with a peaceful and pragmatic style. Choi Gyu-ha, who specializes in foreign affairs, had no intention of getting involved in the whirlpool of power struggles, but the gears of fate turned.
In 1972, in order to seek lifelong rule, Park Chung-hee initiated the reform of the October Restoration political system and established the Fourth Republic, which was completely military in South Korean history. Park Chung-hee, who wanted to monopolize power, became more and more suspicious, and even suspected that his niece-in-law, then Prime Minister Kim Jong-mi, had to find someone who was not threatening to replace him. Kim Jong-mi, who is usually taciturn, has become the best choice, he has no party affiliation, no backing, no resume in the United States, no support from the United States, no experience in participating in the national independence movement, no desire to win the hearts of the people to engage in democracy, no military background, no real power in his hands, this kind of person is one in a million in the political circle.
In December 1975, the 56-year-old Choi Gyu-ha succeeded Kim Jong-mi, who had just completed his term, as prime minister. Choi Gyu-ha was called the prime minister under the idealistic system, and the people naturally regarded him as a representative of the idealistic system. But since he was a child, he has been educated by the Confucian idea of moderation, Choi Gyu-ha does not have much desire for power, coupled with Park Chung-hee's **, Choi Gyu-ha, who became the prime minister, has not changed much in terms of work content, and still mainly deals with foreign affairs. Choi Gyu-ha-ha would not have thought that his otherwise peaceful life would be interrupted.
On October 26, 1979, ** Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his confidant Kim Jae-gyu, and everyone was unprepared for Park Chung-hee's death. At the State Council held on the same day, Choi Gyu-ha became the acting prime minister in accordance with the provisions of the constitution at that time.
A month later, the 60-year-old Choi Gyu-ha took advantage of the situation to win again and officially became the fourth member of South Korea. Choi Gyu-ha, who was a diplomat, understood the difficult situation in South Korea at this time, with various forces secretly competing with each other and the United States watching the development of the situation in South Korea, so he began to impose restrictions. The democratic reforms gave hope to the people of South Korea who were actively fighting for people's freedom, and the short-lived Seoul Spring appeared.
The Seoul Spring was an important democratization movement in South Korean history. After taking office, Choi Gyu-ha pardoned a group of democrats, including Kim Dae-jung and Kim Yong-san, and South Korean students and workers also enjoyed long-lost political rights, and student workers' movements rose one after another.
In March 1980, as college students returned to school after the holidays, the movement for the democratization of schools began to be in full swing in the capital Seoul and local universities. The Seoul Spring quickly spread throughout the country, developing into what became the Glorious Movement. Students took to the streets, demanding an improvement in the model of military education, a rejection of the barracks collective training system, the lifting of martial law, and the reform of the system to participate in the forces. What awaited them was on May 7, when the new military ministry, headed by Chun Doo-hwan, declared a wider martial law and a complete ban on political activities such as assemblies.
On May 18, Chun Doo-hwan used his forces to quell the movement and staged another mutiny, forcing Choi Gyu-ha, who could not control the political situation, to go into the wilderness. On August 16, 1980, Choi Gyu-ha resigned, becoming the shortest-serving South Korean** in Korean history. In his statement, he even defended the National Security Commission established by General Chun Doo-hwan, saying that he was pouring power into order to establish national discipline.
After Choi Gyu-ha**, his reform plan was naturally declared bankrupt, and then he took up the idle post of the speaker of the National Political Advisory Council, and his life was peaceful. Until 1996, the Seoul District Court against Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo in 12The civil unrest squad of 13 and 518 conducted the trial, and Choi Gyu-ha stood in the courtroom as a witness, but he kept silent. As for the reason why he remained silent until the end, there is speculation that Choi Gyu-ha chose to cooperate with the new military department in order to be guaranteed after leaving office.
In her later years, Choi Gyu-ha and his wife Hong-gi were both afflicted by illness, and his wife Hong-gi also suffered from Alzheimer's disease. During his eight years of illness, Choi Gyu-ha visited him in the hospital every day, even though his wife no longer recognized him. Choi Gyu-ha also had to recuperate for a long time due to geriatric illnesses such as heart disease.
On October 22, 2006, Choi Gyu-ha died of illness at the age of 88. Choi Gyu-ha has lived his life as an honest man, and he has been frugal all his life. At the time of his death, the four generations still retained their elderly Venus radios, national electric fans, kerosene stoves, and white galoshes. The funeral was held in a state funeral format, and the body was buried in Hyeonjungwong, Dongjak-dong National Cemetery, Seoul. For Choi Gyu-ha, ** has never been chosen by himself, nor has he given up, he passed away forever with the label of unfortunate ** and the secret of modern Korean history. Biography of people in the world