[Politics X-File] The Shortest Parliamentary Term Is 3 Days, Why Exactly?

⑩ Five Members of the National Assembly Elected on May 13, 1961
Fate of Dissolution by the May 16 Military Coup
One of the Unlucky Five Later Elected President

Editor's Note"Political X-File" is a series that delivers the "unprecedented stories" recorded in the election results and incidents of Korean politics.

The year 1961, still bearing the scars of the Korean War, was a turbulent era. A time when hope and despair, anxiety and chaos intersected. Much had changed since the April 19 Revolution of 1960, which toppled President Syngman Rhee's Liberal Party government.

After the people forced the president out of office, numerous movements emerged to fill the power vacuum. It was a time of opportunity for politicians. In the first half of 1961 alone, there were three elections to elect members of the National Assembly.

The reasons for the elections varied. They included resignations of assembly members, invalidation of election results, and loss of membership due to the "Act on the Restriction of Civil Rights of Anti-Democratic Activists." What exactly was this unfamiliar Act on the Restriction of Civil Rights of Anti-Democratic Activists?

View of the National Assembly Building / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

It was a law that restricted the civil rights of those who had held certain positions before April 1960 during the Liberal Party government and had committed conspicuously anti-democratic acts. Similar to laws applied in France to punish collaborators with Nazi Germany, such legislation also existed in the Republic of Korea.

On May 13, 1961, five new members of the National Assembly were elected. The reason was to fill the seats vacated by those who lost their membership under the Act on the Restriction of Civil Rights of Anti-Democratic Activists. The elections were held in Inje-gun, Gangwon Province; Goesan-gun, Chungbuk Province; Eumseong-gun, Chungbuk Province; Jeongeup-gun B, Jeonbuk Province; and Namhae-gun, Gyeongnam Province.

The reason why we must not forget the May 13, 1961 National Assembly election and those who tasted the joy of victory that day is because they were "unfortunate protagonists" who are unlikely to appear again in Korean political history. Elected as members of the National Assembly, yet called unfortunate protagonists?what kind of story is hidden behind this?

At that time, members of the National Assembly had the responsibility to rekindle the flame of hope in a land devastated by the Korean War. Despite limited resources and national power, the people of the Republic of Korea were full of enthusiasm to try, casting their votes with the mindset of laying stepping stones of hope.

Thus, five new members of the National Assembly were born. In Namhae-gun, Gyeongnam Province, it was Kim Jong-gil of the Democratic Party; in Jeongeup-gun B, Jeonbuk Province, Kim Seong-hwan, an independent; in Eumseong-gun, Chungbuk Province, Jeong In-so, an independent; in Goesan-gun, Chungbuk Province, Kim Sa-man of the Democratic Party; and finally, in Inje-gun, Gangwon Province, Kim Dae-jung of the Democratic Party.

The five members elected in the May 13 by-election?none of them could have anticipated what would happen three days later. On May 16, 1961, a turning point in modern history, army officers led by Major General Park Chung-hee staged the May 16 military coup and claimed themselves as the new rulers of the world.

The Chang Myon cabinet, born from the April 19 Revolution, was toppled by the military coup just nine months after its inauguration. The status of the members of the National Assembly at that time also melted away like bubbles. On May 17, 1961, the media prominently reported the news of the military coup.

It was an announcement that the world had changed. The Military Revolutionary Committee, which seized real power at the time, declared a proclamation on May 16 ordering the arrest of Chang Myon government ministers and the dissolution of the National Assembly. In a world turned upside down, the power of the assembly member's badge was minimal.

On April 19, 2019, the 59th anniversary of the April 19 Revolution, a mourner who visited the National April 19 Democratic Cemetery in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, is looking around the cemetery after a moment of silence. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The five members elected in the May 13 by-election had to resign before they could even try to do anything. They were struck by a sudden misfortune without even properly taking the oath in the National Assembly plenary session, let alone engaging in legislative activities. These five politicians had to relinquish their status as members of the National Assembly just three days after the election.

For them, May 1961 is an unforgettable memory of regret for life.

How could they be elected members of the National Assembly and yet be forced to step down? The turbulent Korean politics thus added another gray memory. Interestingly, among the five unfortunate members who served only three days, one later made a spectacular comeback as the President of the Republic of Korea.

The protagonist is Kim Dae-jung, who was elected as a member of the National Assembly from Inje-gun, Gangwon Province. In the 15th presidential election in 1997, he led the first peaceful transfer of power in the Republic of Korea and became the new occupant of the Blue House.