1997 Daekanese coup d'etat

1997 Daekanese coup d'etat
Type 76 tanks of the 10th Mechanised Division in downtown Tayeong
Date 9-10 July 1997 Location Daekan Result Overthrow and execution of Kwon Jung-Hoon Restoration Committee assumes power Re-introduction of Maengist policies Re-opening of relations with the west
Belligerents
Restoration Committee Pro-Maengist Party faction Ministry of State Security 6th Armoured Divsion 10th Mechanised Division Supported by:	Kwon Government Pro-Kwon Party faction Taeyong Guards Division (initially) Supported by:
Commanders and leaders
Man Yong-Ho Yom Dong-Wook Wu Seung-Min Chang Kwang-Seon Tu Jun-Seo	Kwon Jung-Hoon Pin Seong-Jin Yi Jung-Eun Ong Hyeon-U
Strength
30,000 DPA and MSS troops	12,000 Tayeong Guards (initially) 20,000 People's Militia
Casualties and losses
2 killed, 6 wounded	8 killed, 15 wounded
5 civillians killed, dozens wounded

The 1997 Daekanese coup d'etat, also known as the July Coup, the Cadre Coup or the Restoration Revolution, was the successful seizure of power in Daekan by the Restoration Committee and its allied forces, against Premier Kwon Jung-Hoon. The coup lasted two days with minimal fighting, which nevertheless resulted in both military and civillian casualties.

The coup was orchestrated by the Restoration Committee, a group of Party, Ministry of State Security and Daekanese People's Army officials that had been alienated by Premier Kwon's reversal of his predecessor's (Maeng Song-Hun) Hyeogsin reforms, as well as the catastrophic fallout brought about from Kwon's aggressive foreign policy, specifically the involvement in the Esgonian Civil War. The Restoration Committee was made up of reformists that had been dedicated to Premier Maeng's policies of political and economic liberalisation, as well as opening up Daekan to the west. As such, the Committee became popularly known as the Maengist Cadre.

Background

Kwon rises to power and the Esgonian Civil War

Since his rise to power in 1990, Kwon Jung-Hoon had embarked on an aggressive form of foreign policy and military re-armament. Emboldened by the economic prosperity brought about Maeng Song-Hun's, Kwon's predecessor, reform policies of Hyeogsin (혁신; renovation), Kwon and his faction of the Communist Party sought to reaffirm Daekan's position in Eastern Ashai and the East Grey Sea. Among others, Kwon ordered the expansion of the naval re-armament and modernisation programme established by the National Defence Council in 1988, re-allocating a large portion of the government budget to the construction of new warships. Kwon also took a harsher stance against Esgonia, that was by 1993 on the verge of civil war. MSS First Directorate activity rapidly increased in the neighbouring country, with active subversion operations and support for underground left-wing organisations. Troop movements on the Esgonian border were also increased, as was the probing of Esgonian air defences by Daekanese aircraft.

The start of the Esgonian Civil War proper saw a significant amout of monetary and material support given to the communist Esgonian National Liberation Front. Advisors were also dispatched to train ENLF troops. As the war turned into a stalemate, Kwon ordered small Daekanese People's Army regulars to cross into ENLF-controlled areas, ignoring his advisors and other Party officials who advised against such a move. The government's official stance was that no DPA troops were in-country. As the ENLF started losing ground by 1994 and the Royalist faction was formed, DPA deployments intensified to the point where complete deniability was no longer possible, and as such these troops were dubbed "volunteers" and "internationalist fighters", with the DPA's precense becoming an open secret among the international community.

Return to totalitarianism

Daekanese involvement garnered a massive international reaction against the country. Arms sales and tech transfers to the nation were banned, something that severely impeded Kown's naval re-armament program. Later, trade embargoes were enacted, which had significant concequences for the rebuilding Daekanese economy. Relations with the west soured, with the Great Kingdom in particular.

As the Esgonian Civil War ended with the defeat of the ENLF and othe rebel factions, the Daekanese public too turned against the intervention as the names of hundreds of dead DPA soldiers surfaced. Veterans of the war received limited support from the government. Protests by university students and other anti-government groups, including many veterans, errupted in downtown Taeyong in March 1996. Many of the protests turned violent, with People's Police and paramilitary People's Militia forces deployed to crack them down. Kwon also turned to the Ministry of State Security and its Chairman, Yom Dong-Wook, to crack down on the dissidents. Yom obliged despite his own dislike of Kown's policies and the intervention. Hundreds were arrested, Party officials included, and many were executed. However, Yom defied orders from Kwon to carry out executions of high-profile prisoners, and sent him false reports that confirmed them.

Potests and unnrest continued throughout the year, and publications such as the Taeyong Daily criticized the government's actions. Kwon also faced singificant intra-Party opposition. In order secure his power, Kwon gradually started to roll back the political liberalisation reforms of Hyeogsin. Media that criticized the government were shut down and their editors arrested, with laws passed to roll back the freedom of the press reforms introduced by Hyeogsin. Kwon made extensive use of the People's Militia paramilitaries, an organisation he had headed in the past and was loyal to him, to intimidate his political opponents. People's Militia forces were posted outside radio and TV stations to ensure they would not criticize the government, while they were also sent to local Party organisations across the nation for the same reason.