I have been reading (re-reading?) parts of Michael Breen's "The Koreans." Living here, day-to-day, it's easy to forget that South Korean democracy (such as it is) is about 23 years old. That 's not very old. The dictator Chun Doo-hwan only allowed for direct presidential elections in 1987, and those elections were flawed because the state-run media (and the state pork machine) helped ensure that his hand-chosen successor, Roh Tae-woo, would be elected (although the opposition didn't help itself by splitting the opposition vote).
So in fact, although the constitutional changes 23 years ago could be said to represent the beginning of South Korean democracy, in fact, the first "normal" presidential elections weren't held until 1992. South Korean democracy is still imperfect – but I view North American democracy as rather imperfect, too. Still, those traditions, at least, have many generations of consistency and relatively smooth alternations of power. South Korea is still quite fragile, I think.
It's interesting to realize that for anyone in South Korea who is approaching middle-age, these events were formative experiences of their youth and college years. Most of us English-speaking foreigners who work and live in Korea these days are teachers. Consider the fact that all of those cryptic, middle-aged teachers and administrators you work with have vivid memories of riots, police repression, surreptitious jailings and beatings, disappearances. Your vice principal may have been throwing flaming molotov cocktails, while in university, at his principal, who was a youthful riot-police captain, ordering his men to shoot tear gas and beat the students with clubs. Or vice-versa. Perhaps some of the puzzling things we see Koreans doing could be better understood if we take these things into account.