12-12 Plot Summary
12.12 The Day starts on a fateful day in 1979 after the assassination of President Park. The prime minister called an emergency meeting with the Army in Seoul to break the news and declare a state of martial law in South Korea. He appoints Jung Sang-ho as the army superior and the Martial Law leader.
Sang-ho appoints General Chun Doo-hwan of the Defense Security Command to lead the investigations and find out the truth behind the assassination of the President. The film starts with the narrator saying that the death of the dictator, President Park, did not lead to a better day in South Korea as many had hoped. Instead, people craving seats of power ushered in darker times in the country.
Why does Jung Sang-ho appoint Lee Tae-Shin as the Capital Garrison Commander (CGC)?
The Chief of Staff, Jung Sang-ho, believes South Korean soldiers must protect the country but not get involved in politics. He is aware of a private group within the army, Hanaoe, who are interested in seizing power and entering politics.
The Hanaoe is a secret organisation, and even though Sang-ho does not know its members, he is sure that some soldiers believe in similar ideologies and will not play politics at the expense of national security. One such man is Lee Tae-shin. The Chief of staff wants to appoint him as CGC commander, but Tae-shin constantly turns him down.
Meanwhile, General Chun approaches the Chief and tries to pitch one of his people to be the CGC. As the leader of the investigations into President Park’s assassination, Sang-ho feels that General Chun already has access to so much of the army intelligence and has started to act as if he owns the world. Therefore, he is desperate and anxious about what the Hanaoe might do and needs General Lee’s help.
What happens on 12th December 1979?
General Chun thinks that the only way his ambition and that of Hanaoe can come to fruition is by arresting Sang-ho under suspicion of involvement in the assassination of the President. However, Sang-ho is his superior and can only stop him after the new President signs the arrest warrant. After coming up with his plan, he calls a secret meeting with all the Hanaoe army lieutenants and Generals. It takes some time to convince them and get their support, but he finally gets them on board, and the plan is set in motion.
Sang-ho had reshuffled the army posts and sent the members of Hanaoe to remote and scattered positions all over the country to break their coordination. General Chun uses the development to lure the Generals supporting Sang-ho, including General Lee, into a farewell party to keep them distracted and give his men enough time to arrest Sang-ho. In the meantime, General Chun meets with the President to get a signed warrant of arrest, but the plans do not go as smoothly as he had anticipated.
Regardless, Hanaoe follows through with arresting Sang-ho without the President’s signature. A gunfight ensues at his residence, and the Marines are called in to rescue the Chief of Staff. The Hanaoe surround the Marines, and it becomes an all-out war in Sang-ho’s residence, making political leaders living in his surroundings, including the minister of defence, go into hiding. Meanwhile, General Lee and his friends are still distracted, unaware of what is happening outside. When they finally get the news, Sang-ho is already missing, and they have no idea where General Chun has taken him.
Moreover, the President refuses to sign the arrest warrant, meaning that Hanaoe’s actions are against the law, meaning they have committed acts of insubordination and treason. However, General Chun Is not ready to back down even after he is declared an enemy of the state and the army is ordered to shoot on sight. He decides to start an internal war within the military by asking the Hanaoe Generals supporting him to call in their divisions and storm the headquarters in Seoul.
While the Hanaoe swiftly gather their regiments and start heading out to Seoul, the commanders on the other end of the spectrum are met with bottlenecks at every juncture because General Chun has access to all the communication lines as the head of the Defense Security Command. His men listen in on conversations between the various generals trying to mobilise the forces to rescue Sang-ho and intervene, issuing contradictory orders that break the chain of command and send the military into chaos. With the Chief Command out of the picture, there is confusion over who is in command and whose orders the soldiers should follow. Therefore, in a juxtaposition of different scenes, officers make frantic calls to ask for backup while others cancel orders for backup.
All the scenes culminate in a standoff at the 30th Division, where the Hanaoe gather after control of the various military segments, and only General Lee’s Capital Garrison Command is left to fight back. Although the CGC are highly outnumbered, General Lee still manages to confidently make General Chun and his buddies anxious when he threatens to torpedo the location. General Chun and the Hanaoe’s selfishness knows no bounds as they force citizens into the area to save themselves by blackmailing General Lee into taking back his fire order.
Is the Hanaoe punished for staging the coup?
Unfortunately, the CGC has not had the upper hand since the Hanaoe has the minister of defence in their pockets. He arrives at the 30th Division and orders the CGC to stand down, and when they disobey his orders, he strips General Lee of his position as army commander, meaning that the CGC soldiers under him can no longer follow his orders. Consequently, more Hanaoe soldiers arrived, surrounding the CGC and forcing them to surrender their weapons. General Chun orders the arrest of General Lee.
After General Chun’s plan succeeds by putting all the army generals against their takeover in jail, the epilogue indicates that General Chun became South Korean President, ruling for two terms, and the Hanaoe members who supported him served in various political positions.
What happens at the end?
General Lee and all the Army generals against General Chun and Hanaoe ’s takeover plans are arrested after Hanaoe forces the President to authorise their arrest ex post facto. The Hanaoe holds a party to celebrate the success of their mission, drinking beer and singing Karaoke.
12.12 The Day sheds light on the South Korean political past through its gripping plot and veteran cast. It chronicles General Chun’s rise to power after a political vacuum left following the President’s assassination driven by greed, disregard for human rights, and political ambition.
Moreover, the film capitalises on the dire effects of internal conflicts and divisions within the military, showing the viewers how it can quickly spiral into civil war. It is agonising to watch the people who swore allegiance to protect a country give in to their selfish desires, prioritising individual safety and comfort instead of the country’s and the citizen’s safety.