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The Carter administration knew that the 12/12 incident that occurred in South Korea in 1979 was a coup d'etat that would hamper the country's process of democratization. However, it did not take positive action to thwart it. According to the relevant materials, including declassified documents, the Carter administration detected the possibility of a coup d'etat in South Korea and de cursory efforts, including informing the South Korean government of such, what it actually implemented on December 12, 1979, and its stance in the period following the incident, was nothing more than passive adaptation to the altered situation. Such an attitude taken by the Carter administration was the result of the domestic factors that were prevalent in Korea at the time, such as the absence of an optional faction due to the inability of the Choi Gyu-ha administration and the fear of a recurrence of a coup d'etat, combined with the securityrelated concerns pertaining to Northeast Asia in the shape of confusion in South Korea and the North's miscalculation. Simultaneously, the Iran hostage crisis in the American Embassy in Iran in the same year also served as a factor that impacted the way the Carter administration responded to the 12/12 incident in South Korea.
Keywords: the 12/12 Incident, the Carter Administration, Chun Doo-hwan, Park Chung-hee, the US hostage crisis in Iran, Korea
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I. INTRODUCTION
The "12/12 coup d'état" of December 12, 1979 placed Korea, which had finally freed itself from Park Chung-hee's (Pak Chong-húis) prolonged oneman rule, back into the hands of a military dictatorial rule. Especially as the power of the new army group became the principal agent that suppressed the May 18 Kwangju democratic movement in 1980, the tragedy of modern Korean history began with the 12/12 incident.
However until now, despite that two decades have passed since the end of the 12/12 coup, there has been no definitive end to the controversy concerning the U.S. response. This controversy was heightened because the Carter administration pursued policies that placed a great importance on human rights, integrating "moral value" to its foreign policies (Carter 1977; 1988). In fact, the Carter administration's foreign policy emphasized moral diplomacy since his inauguration in an attempt to differentiate itself from previous administrations.1