KAPAC ::: Korean American Public Affairs Communittee :::

C O N T E N T S

NAME

  kapac 2009-03-12 14:40:16 | READ : 2641

T  I  T  L  E   Overcome the Historical Controversies with the Spirit of the March 1st Movement!

FILE   #1

   Eliot_Kim.JPG (24.7 KB) Download : 1

.

Eliot Ilsuk Kim, Chairman, Policy Committee of KAPAC

                March 1st of this year marks the 90th anniversary of the declaration of independence of 1919 by the 33 leaders of the Korean people. All Korean people including Korean-Americans reflect about the import of this day with profound respects to and pride on our ancestors because their deed was done in the deepest darkness of the Japanese imperialism. It made the will of the Korean people to the Korean independence known to the world over. After about a quarter century after this historic event, however, many of the 33 leaders were collaborating with the imperialist Japan. Although their transgression was an act of treason and are deplorable from the perspectives of this time, it may as well tells us of the tenacity of the harassment and threat against the defying Korean leaders from the Japanese imperialists. At the time the Japanese were hard pressed to the corner in the loosing war.

        After the fall of the Japanese imperialism and the subsequent liberation of Korea, the prosecution of the collaborators was enacted. But it had been suspended before it could produce concrete, thorough judgments on them. Since the country was in chaotic disarray after the liberation, the resolution of immediate problems in security and administration took the higher priority than the purge of the pro-Japanese or collaborators did. As a consequence of this, many of the people whom were labeled as the pro-Japanese continued to remain in the areas of their expertise and influence and with the passing of time they gradually join the ranking elite group of the Korean society. Due to this some now argue that opportunists like the pro-Japanese have been masterminding the modern Korean history. Their argument in fact instigated the compiling of a Pro-Japanese roster, a sort of purge defaming the so accused.

        Problem concerning collaborations with former enemy is not unique to Korea. For example, the post-war France had to go through a similar pain of purging the Nazi or the Vichy collaborators. But it turned out that it was easier said than done because the rounding up of the Nazi and Vichy collaborators was more complicated than expected except some prominent cases. It must be noted here that Korea was occupied by the Imperial Japan much longer than France was occupied by the Nazi Germany and also that Korea never experienced a war like situation on its mainland where friends and foes were clearly divided and distinguished. A Frenchman could join the Resistance had he opted to whereas a Korean man residing in Korea proper at the time simply did not have the similar choice. In fact many French young men joined the Resistance when Germany enforced them to work in the German war industries. Korean young men had to grudgingly comply with the similar demands by the Imperial Japan. Otherwise they were certain to be subject to harsh, brutal or probably fatal punishment by the Japanese. The situation in Korea was a unique one that had been formed through the passage of rather long time spanning several decades. Therefore it may be difficult to judge now certain acts of the people at the time as to be one of a Pro-Japanese. Overlooking these complexities, some academic circles in Korea views the modern Korean history from a perspective predominantly framed by their distaste against the alleged pro-Japanese legacy and its ramifications in the Korean society. Their biased views did not linger within the academic communities but spilled over into arts, entertainment and finally to the education. As a result of this many a Korean youth do not have a pride in their history and not even about the very country which they were born to and raised in.

        Anyone who has a good, practical sense of the Korean transformation from its past would not argue against the fact that the modern Korean history has much bigger bright side than its darker sides. The unprecedented economic progress and the fully blossomed democracy that Korea had achieved despite repeated crises like the Korean War and unceasing military threat and provocations by North Korea thereafter are testimony to this. Our present has evolved from our past, glorious or only partially glorious. If our past has been nothing but dark, how would our bright present come into being? We have a responsibility to provide our younger generations with correct, clear answer to this question. We should overcome unproductive, self-denying arguments about the past history and move towards the future. It is time to wind down the futile strife about the way with which to interpret the Korean modern history and to consolidate the national strength in building a more robust, progressing country. Korea should vigorously promote those universal values like liberty, democracy and human rights that are shared by all mankind. This will bring it genuine admiration of many nations in the world. This must be the correct way of inheriting the spirits of the March 1st Movement rather than clinging to the divisive issues of the past history.