South Korea Breaking into the Big Leagues

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Fittingly, democratic progress has been in no small measure related to the Olympic Games. During the tense days of June 1987, when demonstrations against the government reached their peak, Chun rejected a call from hard-liners demanding sterner measures against the protesters, fearing that an escalation of the violence might threaten the Games. "For the military leadership," says Korea University's Han Sung Joo, "the Olympics became as important an objective as any other national goal -- even maintaining themselves in power." So democracy bloomed to save the Olympics. The ancient Greeks would be pleased.