A tale of two commissions: explaining the different trajectories of human rights movements in Korea

Abstract

With fourteen commissions, South Korea is leading a global trend of addressing past human rights violations using truth commissions. Two commissions, the Jeju Commission and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea, stand out. Both commissions worked efficiently, but their paths diverged under two consecutive conservative regimes. What accounts for this difference? Six factors were studied: international involvement, the nature of renewed suppression, the power of the commission, the characteristics of the killings, the role of advocacy, and the differences in the victims' demand. The first three factors were less relevant while the last three, in conjunction, determined the different outcome of the two commissions.