8.15: Lucky for Kim San, unlucky for Jo Bong-am
Amidst all the hullabaloo surrounding the joint North-South celebration of the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the problems related to the government’s recognition of nationalist heroes provide an interesting sideshow.
Until 2004 the South Korean government clung fast to its traditional anti-communist ways and refused to acknowledge the contribution of independence fighters tainted with any sort of leftwing politics. But this year 47 are being honoured, including Kim San, apparently known as the ‘Che Guevara of the East’ (if you can believe what the Korea Times says).
On the other hand, some have not been so lucky yet. According to a Hankyoreh editorial (thanks to Muninn for bringing this to my attention), Jo Bong-am (조봉암), a left independence activist who later struggled against Syngman Rhee in the 1950s, has not been included because he received a guilty verdict from the supreme court. The editorial points out that the verdict against Jo for espionage (for which he was executed) was completely fixed and politically motivated. But it seems Jo and his descendants will have to wait a bit longer for due recognition.
While the recognition of long-dead independence fighters might seem purely symbolic, I think it is important and particularly significant in terms of building a more realistic view of Korean history, undistorted by the anti-communism of the past. By coincidence, I have a book on Jo Bong-am sitting on my shelf waiting to be read, perhaps this will spur me on a bit.
This is really quite difficult to take, since I’ve always thought of Cho Bong-am as a person with whom the political development of ROK would have been much more even-handed and whose show trial is an especially disgraceful part of the Southern history. It’s almost as if ROK wanted have its own with all the DPRK show trials, 참: Cho Bong-am vs. Pak Hôn-yông. But his formal reputation will have to give way for the integrity (?) of an ROK institution, Supreme Court…
Comment by Antti — August 16, 2005 @ 12:26 pm
Hmm, rival show trials is a disturbing but really quiet apt idea. It seems that North and South competed in this mirror-image game in every other field so why not in the field of outrageous show trials too.
This sort of thing always brings to mind Tony Cliff’s favourite old joke comparing Stalinist Russia to a man fighting a mad dog:
Comment by kotaji — August 17, 2005 @ 4:31 pm