Editing Roh Tae-woo (section)

===June 29 Declaration and run for presidency===
{{see also|1987 South Korean presidential election|June 29 Declaration}}
Despite his involvement in the coup d'état of December 12 and the bloody military crackdown of dissidents in the Gwangju Uprising and with an eye on the [[Blue House]] in the upcoming 1987 presidential elections, Roh began working to distance himself from the unpopular Chun government. Roh worked to carry out his own agenda for democratic reform. By agreeing to meeting the demands of the political opposition in terms of political reforms with his eight-point proposal including direct election of the President, Roh successfully upstaged Chun and boosted his own image as a reformer.

In June 1987, Chun named Roh as the presidential candidate of the ruling [[Democratic Justice Party]]. This was widely perceived as handing Roh the presidency, and triggered large pro-democracy rallies in Seoul and other cities in the 1987 [[June Democracy Movement]].

In response, Roh made a speech on 29 June promising a wide program of reforms. Chief among them were a new, more democratic constitution and popular election of the president. In the election, the two leading opposition figures, [[Kim Young-sam]] and [[Kim Dae-jung]] (both of whom later became presidents), were unable to overcome their differences and they split the vote.<ref name="LosAngeles2">{{cite web|last1=Holley|first1=David|title=Kim Young Sam Gets Backing of Only Woman in Korea Race|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-06-mn-27127-story.html|date=6 December 1987|access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref> This enabled Roh to win by a narrow margin with 36.6% of the vote and become the country's first democratically elected president on 16 December 1987.