South Korea’s ruling party’s chairman resigns in disgrace

Producer: Yvonne Gomez
First broadcast: 20 August 04, Radio Singapore International

An investigation into pro-Japanese collaborators and sympathizers has led to the resignation of South Korea’s ruling Uri Party’s chairman, Shin Ki-nam.

Mr Shin’s has admitted that his father had worked for Japan’s military police during the Japanese occupation of Korea between 1910 and 1945.

What are some reasons for starting this probe on Korea’s colonial past now?

A question Yvonne Gomez posed to Professor Lee Jung-hoon from Yonsei University in Seoul.

LJH: Well, this is President Roh Moo-hyun’s and some of his close lieutenants’ efforts to, in a way, rewrite history or, according to them, make right, history, that had led to the unjust persecution of a lot of innocent citizens. That’s the claim from President Roh Moo-hyun’s side. But obviously, it’s bringing about a tremendous polarisation of society at the moment.

Despite Mr Shin’s resignation, there’ve been reports that the ruling Uri party hasn’t actually suffered too much, politically, from this. Why is that?

LJH: It is the largest party, and he is being replaced by a former dissident politician, who has actually crossed over from the Grand National Party. The former Uri party chairman, Shin Ki-nam, who just stepped down – the charges against him are very serious, because it’s not just the fact that his father was involved during the colonial period, but as collaborater (since he was in the military police) -that alone shouldn’t be the basis of the chairman of the Uri party stepping down. But the thing is, Chairman Shin Ki-nam has been sort of lying about the whole thing and he tried to cover it up. In fact, he was at the very forefront in calling for comprehensive investigations into Korea’s modern history, including digging up dirt on former collaborators, as if his father was not one of them. So it’s that background which really raised the eyebrows of many people, and led them ask how he could have done that, to lie about his father’s background.

Isn’t that strange…I mean, especially if you say that Shin Ki-nam was an enthusiastic supporter of the plan to investigate collaborators. Why do you think he would have done something like that, knowing full well that the chances that someone would dig into his father’s past, would be quite high?

LJH: (Chuckles) That’s a good question, and it is a bit mind-boggling, because the truth would’ve come out sooner or later. Maybe it’s because, perhaps he felt insecure about this, so he went overboard in putting out gestures or an image, that there was nothing wrong with his father.

Taking step back, what do you think will be the outcome of this probe into the pro-Japanese collaborators and sympathisers?

LJH: It really depends on how and who approaches this comprehensive investigation, the opposition Grand National Party’s leader, Park Keun-hye, whose father is also under very heavy scrutiny, because he was a member of the Japanese military during the colonial period. But she’s also said that, ok, let’s dig up history, but the colonial period is not the only part of Korean history that will be dug up. We should also be investigating the post-Korean War period, and the Korean War also. Who stood for liberal democracy and freedom of Korea, and who stood for communism and the socialisation of Korea. So it’s putting the pressure on the ruling party and the government, by widening the breadth of the investigations.

If Shin hadn’t lied, would he still have been disgraced? What is the South Korean public’s sentiment about visiting the father’s sins on his son?

LJH: I think it really depends case by case. The problem is Mr Shin Ki-nam is a politician and Ms Park Keun-hye is a politician, and as politicians, they have their fair share of enemies. Everytime there is something that can really be scratched out, their opponents will highlight, or maybe even exaggerate it, to make an issue out of something that may not necessarily be an issue for the second generation politicians. I’m afraid that this will go on – these investigations – and I’m not so sure if this is going to lead to some sort of psychological cleansing of Korea, so that we can take off to the next stage in out history. No, what it’ll lead to is a lot of law suits, finger-pointing, blaming, acrimonious debates and exchanges, and it’s only going to further the polarised state of Korean society. So I don’t think this is an appropriate time for such an investigation, especially when our economy is reeling.