[FICTION VS. HISTORY] '12.12: The Day' depicts a pivotal day in Korean history, but how much is real?

Korean Heritage

Published: 10 Jan. 2024, 06:01 Updated: 18 Jan. 2024, 16:34

[FICTION VS. HISTORY] '12.12: The Day' depicts a pivotal day in Korean history, but how much is real?

In film and television, historical dramas have never gone out of style. Fans of period dramas, both in Korea and abroad, like to be transported to a different time and learn about the stories that swept up — or were put in motion by — our ancestors. Some watch to see how the present compares with the past. Others watch to see progress. Foreign Korea-philes can get a crash course in Korean history while watching historical films. But all historical dramas create characters, add romantic plots and conflate or invent events to make sure viewers don’t lose interest. With Fiction vs. History, the Korea JoongAng Daily attempts to distinguish fact from fiction in popular period dramas and films for clarification and to dispel misunderstandings.

A scene from the film "12.12: The Day" shows military leader Chun Doo-kwang, center, played by actor Hwang Jung-min, talking to the members of hanahoe, an unofficial private society of military officers. [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

Korea’s historical film “12.12: The Day” has been breaking records and helping to enliven cinemas that had been in a rut, both in Korea and abroad.

It was the biggest Korean film in North America last year, surpassing $1 million in revenue just one month after its premiere on Nov. 23. The Korean premiere was just a day before that, and it was the most watched film in Korea also last year. So far, it surpassed more than 12.57 million ticket sales domestically as of Tuesday, according to the Korean Film Council ticket data.

There have been numerous historical flicks that tell the story of Korea’s notorious military dictator Chun Doo Hwan, who took the helm of the country through a coup d’état in 1980 and ruled for eight years. But what makes “12.12: The Day” in particular such a sensation?

It shows the historic day of Dec. 12, 1979, as a military coup d’état was about to break out in Seoul, led by Chun and his unofficial private society of military officers called hanahoe. The military officers are mostly graduates of the 11th class of the Korea Military Academy from 1955.

This military munity led to the May 17 coup d’état the following year and the tragic May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. As the details to what had happened on that day are relatively lesser known than those of the latter two events, Koreans both young and old swarmed the theaters, only to leave feeling infuriated by Korea’s past.

But before pointing fingers at the powerless politicians and military leaders who sided with Chun during his scheme for a coup as depicted in the film, it’s important to distinguish fact from fiction, as director Kim Sung-su has indeed dramatized some of the characters and events, even though the film does in large part stay true to the real history.

General Roh Tae-woo's tanks in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul on Dec. 12, 1979 [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Most of the characters that appear in the film are modeled after real-life figures. The director said he intentionally gave some characters names similar to the historical figures they are modeled after so that viewers can easily make the connection. For example, the commander of the Defense Security Command in the film, named Chun Doo-kwang (played by Hwang Jung-min), is modeled after the real-life Chun Doo Hwan, while the character for Roh Tae-woo — Chun’s good friend and Korea’s former president who took over the presidency after Chun from 1988 to 1993 — is named Roh Tae-gun (played by Park Hae-il). Jeong Sang-ho (played by Lee Seong-min) is modeled after Jeong Seung-hwa, chief of the General Staff.

But there are several characters whose names are not reminiscent of the real-life figures, like Lee Tae-shin (played by Jung Woo-sung), the commander of the Army Capital Security Command, who takes after the real-life Gen. Jang Tae-wan; and Oh Guk-sang (played by Kim Eui-sung), the minister of National Defense who takes after the real-life Noh Jae-hyun. Director Kim said he used entirely different names for the characters whose roles had to be more fictionalized.

Lee Tae-shin was meant to be portrayed more heroic, as he is the man opposing Chun Doo-kwang. In the film, Lee is one of the few people eager to stop Chun from realizing his darkest intention: Chun wants to frame Gen. Jeong Sang-ho, chief of the General Staff, to put him behind bars by saying he was involved in the assassination of former president Park Chung Hee in October of that year, so that Chun himself can gain ultimate power.

Lee Tae-shin tries his best to persuade other chief commanders to join forces to block Chun’s new militant group, known as singunbu, from entering into Seoul and taking over the Ministry of National Defense and the Army Headquarters. When he realizes no one will back him up, he courageously stomps out to the middle of Haengju Bridge in a chilling scene where he almost gets run over.

A photograph of shingunbu, a new military faction [JOONGANG PHOTO]

A scene from "12.12: The Day" showing Chun Doo-kwang and Lee Tae-shin facing each other in front of the Gyeongbok Palace,which never had happened in reality. [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

Later, he even gathers some 100 soldiers left under him and drives their tanks up to Gwanghwamun in central Seoul to face Chun and his singunbu, who have already barricaded the area. At the climax, he gets stripped of his role as the commander of the Army Capital Security Command but continues to march towards Chun, climbing over the barricades in a display of his strong will to stop Chun at all costs.

It is true that Gen. Jeong, whom Lee Tae-shin is modeled after, did not sway and fought against the rebel forces until the last moment. But according to his testimonies on record, he never left his office that night, and actually made every order by phone call, which means that the scenes where Lee Tae-shin dramatically shows up on the Haengju Bridge or when he faces off against Chun in Gwanghwamun never actually happened.

In the film, shots are exchanged when the armed agents of the Defense Security Command working under Chun attempt to arrest, or kidnap to be more exact, Jeong Sang-ho at his house on the evening of Dec. 12.

In the film, Minister of National Defense Oh Guk-sang, who lived next door to Jeong, hears the gunshots and flees his house in his pajamas to the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command Headquarters. The man, who should be taking the lead during such a national crisis, running away in PJs seems like it was made up for the film, but was in fact reality.

Noh Jae-hyun, who was the real minister of National Defense at the time, was later discovered hiding at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters after it had already been emptied out by the rebel forces. He later testified at the National Assembly in 1993, saying that he had done a “shameful act” that night and that he had been “hiding inside his room as the rebels were firing gunshots.”

Korea's former presidents Roh Tae-woo, left, and Chun Doo Hwan, stand in trial in 1995 on charges of masterminding the coup d'etat that brought them to power in 1979. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Noh being in hideout for many hours made the situation that night even more chaotic, as Chun was combing through different places trying to find Noh to take him to the acting president Choi Kyu-hah to get official permission to arrest Jeong. Noh also testified that he did indeed order the commander of the army capital security command to avoid an armed conflict and to pull out, and that he gave his authorization to arrest Jeong, as portrayed in the film.

Then what about the vice chief of staff named Min Seong-bae in the film, who orders the withdraw of the airborne brigade that was coming toward Seoul to counterattack the rebels, saying that Chun agreed to enter into a gentleman’s agreement? He is modeled after a real-life figure named Yoon Seong-min, and it is documented that he did indeed order the troops to return to basecamp.

In the film, there are numerous shooting scenes that make it seem as if there were many casualties. However, just three soldiers are documented to have died that night, including Maj. Kim Oh-rang, who was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1990. Kim’s character in the film is Oh Jin-ho (played by Jung Hae-in).

A scene from the film "12.12: The Day" [PLUS M ENTERTAINMENT]

In the film, Oh Jin-ho gets shot by the rebel forces as he stays behind with Gong Soo-hyuk, commander of the Army Special Forces Command. It is documented that when some 10 armed forces barged in to arrest the commander of the Army Special Forces Command named Jeong Byung-ju, whom Gong Soo-hyuk is modeled after, only one of his men stayed behind with him, and that was Kim. He resisted with only a pistol but died on the spot after getting shot six times. Finally, it is also true that one of the armed lieutenant colonels who shot Kim was his close friend.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]