When protesters jump on tanks

On April 19, 1960, 186 people were killed and 6,026 were injured in Korea after police opened fire on demonstrators. As the protesters headed for the presidential office, President Rhee Syng-man declared martial law and mobilized the military. Gen. Song Yo-chan, martial law commander, did not give the word to fire and flexibly handled the situation. People welcomed the military, jumping on tanks and chanting slogans. However strong a dictatorship might be, it cannot stand when people jump on tanks and cry "Hurrah!" Rhee announced his resignation a week later.

Egyptian protesters are demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who has held power for 30 years. Though a curfew was issued and the military deployed, the angry mob did not stop. Soldiers also did not block them when they prayed and wrote graffiti on tanks. A soldier shouted to the protesters, "Like you, we also serve our country that we love." With demonstrators jumping on tanks, Egypt has taken a step closer to democracy.

The former Soviet Union and China chose different paths toward democratization. In 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared invalid a military coup of hawkish communist members while on a tank that marched to arrest him in front of the Russian Federal Assembly building. It became clear that Russia could never go back to communism. The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ordered a crackdown on demonstrators in Beijing`s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. A young man blocked tanks but he was helpless, and the effort to democratize China failed.

The military of a modern state is a military of the people. Armed forces of monarchies worldwide were made up of mercenaries whose purpose was to make money. Swiss mercenaries stayed when riots broke into the palace of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette in the French Revolution. After the revolution, a national military in which the people served as an obligation was created and a "royaume" became a nation. A national military might shoot at enemy forces but should never fire at its own people. When soldiers agree with the people, a dictatorship has nowhere to go.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)