"Global Times In-depth" Faced with its colonial history, South Korea is caught in a "deep debate"
2024-08-24
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[Global Times Special Correspondent in South Korea Lin Chao, Global Times Special Correspondent Han Wen] Editor's Note: "Liberation Day is divided into two." South Korea's Hankook Ilbo recently published an editorial saying that the country's opposition parties and most independence movement groups did not participate in the Liberation Day commemoration activities hosted by the ruling party and government officials on August 15, but instead held their own commemoration ceremony to protest the government's appointment of Kim Hyung-seok as the director of the Independence Memorial Hall. Since the current South Korean government came to power, the ruling and opposition parties and different factions in the country have been arguing over historical issues. Some scholars say that South Korea is now involved in a profound debate about its modern history, which is related to South Korea's new right-wing forces. Some believe that the left-right opposition in historical views has further exacerbated the domestic confrontation in South Korea.
On August 15, some opposition lawmakers in South Korea attended the Liberation Day commemoration ceremony held by the Liberation Society. (The Paper)
Fierce arguments over multiple "Japan-related issues"
According to a report by South Korea's Hankyoreh on August 21, the country's largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, is promoting legislation to prevent people who support pro-Japanese behavior from entering public institutions and punish speeches that deny South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo (called Takeshima in Japan). The Hankyoreh said that this move is widely seen as a counterattack against the current South Korean government's retrogressive view of history, "for example, this is a counterattack against the appointment of Kim Hyung-seok, who is controversially pro-Japanese, as the director of the Independence Hall."
Kim Hyung-seok has been regarded by many people in South Korea as a "new right-winger" and a "pro-Japanese". Park Chan-dae, the whip of the Democratic Party of Korea, said that Kim Hyung-seok often makes absurd remarks such as "the period of Japanese imperialist occupation was conducive to (South Korea's) modernization", and the government should immediately revoke his appointment for those who hold such a historical view. Kim Hyung-seok argued that he has always strongly criticized Japanese colonial rule. The South Korean presidential office said that this personnel arrangement has nothing to do with "historical views" and "it is just the appointment of the preferred candidate recommended by the recommendation committee composed of the Independence Hall Board of Directors."
Kim Hyung-seok is just one of many people who have disagreed on personnel appointments in historical research and academic institutions between the ruling and opposition parties and different factions in South Korea. According to the Hankyoreh, Park Eui-taek, who was appointed as a director of the Independence Hall in February this year, was once the director of the Luoxingdae Economic Research Institute, which is known as the "cradle of colonial modernization theory."
MBC TV in South Korea said that the new right-wingers have occupied key positions in Korean history research institutions. The Northeast Asian History Foundation, the National History Compilation Committee, and the Central Institute of Korean Studies are the three major historical research institutions under the South Korean government. The Northeast Asian History Foundation was established in 2006 to deal with the distortion of history and the Dokdo issue. In January 2024, Park Ji-hyang, professor emeritus of Seoul University, became the chairman of the board. The book he co-authored was criticized for advocating the "colonial modernization theory." Professor Heo Dong-hyun of Kyung Hee University, who has served as chairman of the National History Compilation Committee since May last year, participated in the nationalization of history textbooks during the Park Geun-hye administration, which was criticized by the mainstream historical community at the time. Kim Nak-nyeon, professor emeritus of Dongguk University, who recently became the president of the Central Institute of Korean Studies, is the co-author of "Anti-Japanese Racism", which denies Japan's forced labor on the Korean Peninsula and believes that there is insufficient evidence to prove that "Dokdo is Korean territory". The above appointments have caused controversy in South Korea.
The ruling and opposition parties in South Korea also quarreled over Japan's apology for historical issues. Kim Tae-hyo, first director of the National Security Office of South Korea, said on August 16 that if Japan turned a blind eye to historical issues, it should be seriously investigated and tried to make Japan change, but what was important was Japan's intention. "Is it really reasonable to force (people who have no intention of apologizing) to apologize?" This statement caused widespread controversy. Even the conservative media Dong-A Ilbo said that the above statement can be understood as "Since there is no need to ask Japan to apologize, there is no need to ask Japan to apologize." Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized this and said that it is the hearts of the Korean people that should be taken care of. After the storm escalated, the South Korean presidential office explained that Kim Tae-hyo's original intention was that South Korea must be able to impress the hearts of Japan, but people related to the presidential office said that Japan had apologized dozens of times and was already tired. This additional statement seemed to look at historical issues from the perspective of Japan, causing the controversy to continue to spread.
On July 27, at the 46th World Heritage Conference held in New Delhi, the capital of India, Japan's Sado Gold Mine was included in the World Heritage List. This matter has also caused controversy in South Korea. According to Korean media, during World War II, in order to ensure the supply of war materials, Japan forcibly conscripted about 1,200 Korean Peninsula laborers to perform heavy labor in this gold mine. Due to the poor working environment and oppression, many laborers later died of pneumoconiosis and other diseases. South Korea has always opposed Japan's application for the Sado Gold Mine to be listed as a World Heritage Site, and has protested against Japan's promotion of the application.
However, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on July 26 that a South Korean Foreign Ministry official revealed that day that “South Korea and Japan have gradually reached a consensus that it can be assumed that (Sado Gold Mine) will be listed as a World Heritage Site unless there are special circumstances.” The official said that Japan promised to reflect the full picture of history and has taken substantial measures to this end. Yonhap News Agency reported that South Korea agreed to include Sado Gold Mine in the World Heritage List on the premise that Japan would exhibit exhibits on the history of forced laborers from South Korea and hold annual commemorative activities to commemorate the forced laborers, but the Japanese exhibition did not explicitly use the term “forced.” In addition, Japan had rejected the request to use the word “forced” in the Sado Gold Mine exhibition during negotiations. Despite this, South Korea still agreed to include it in the World Heritage List, which attracted criticism from the public.
The Hankyoreh commented that the South Korean government's attitude was "humiliating". In response, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Deul-yeol said on August 13 that this was inappropriate criticism. He stressed that the government never gave up emphasizing the compulsory issue of forced labor during the negotiations. He believed that from the perspective of ensuring the implementation of Japan's measures, this negotiation has made further progress compared with the 2015 negotiations on Japan's Hashima Island being included in the World Heritage List.
Last year, the South Korean government attempted to remove the bust of General Hong Beom-do, a famous anti-Japanese general, from the Army Academy, a plan that also sparked controversy between the ruling and opposition parties. According to South Korean media reports, the South Korean government also plans to move the other four statues of anti-Japanese independence activists to other locations in the Army Academy, and is considering displaying a bust of Paik Sun-yup in the academy. The Hankyoreh said that Paik Sun-yup has been controversial for his pro-Japanese behavior during the period of Japanese imperialist occupation. The U.S. "Foreign Policy" website revealed in September last year that the South Korean government also plans to rename a naval submarine named after Beom Hong-do.
Regarding the above plan, former South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed the hope that the presidential office would withdraw the plan to remove the bust of Hong Beom-do, leaving history and martyrs without regrets. The National Youth Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea held a protest in front of the South Korean presidential office, criticizing the government's wrong view of history. The Independence Movement Memorial Project Group said that this was an anti-constitutional act that denied the historical orthodoxy of the South Korean military. The South Korean Ministry of Defense stated that it could not deny the achievements of General Hong Beom-do in launching the independence movement through the anti-Japanese armed struggle, but General Hong's actions after going to the Soviet Union in 1921 were evaluated as inconsistent with the achievements of the independence movement, which was "also a clear fact."
Is the New Right rising again?
The term "New Right" often appears in media reports on differences in South Korea over historical issues. Benjamin Engel, a scholar at Seoul National University, previously wrote that South Korea is now embroiled in a profound debate about its modern history, which is largely driven by scholars and politicians associated with the New Right movement. These influential conservative figures advocate a more positive view of South Korea's previous authoritarian history.
Lee Jun-sik, former director of the Independence Hall of Korea, wrote in April this year that recently, with the new right wing as the center, there have been voices that Lee Seung-man is the "founding father" of South Korea, and the government has also promoted this voice. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon even said that he would build a memorial hall for Lee Seung-man in Songhyeon Square in Jongno District. According to South Korea's "Joongang Ilbo", the documentary "Founding War" released on February 1 this year attracted 710,000 viewers to the theater 18 days after its release. The documentary "re-examines former President Lee Seung-man". If the evaluation of him before this was mainly focused on his historical "mistakes", then this documentary focuses on his "merits".
Lee Jun-sik said that those who insist that Lee Seung-man is the "founding father" of South Korea have been pushing for the establishment of a "founding day". There is a reason why some forces, including the new right, are forcing the establishment of a "founding day", which is to wash away the pro-Japanese and dictatorial history of some people. The claim of "the founding of South Korea in 1948" contains a "dark intention", that is, to remove independence activists from South Korea by establishing a "founding day" and fill their place with pro-Japanese factions and their descendants.
The US website "Foreign Policy" added that the main argument of the Korean New Right also includes that South Korea's liberal democracy sprouted from "the capabilities accumulated during the Japanese colonial period." Supporters of this view believe that Japanese colonizers and Korean collaborators made many mistakes, but some of their actions "paved the way for South Korea's liberal democracy." In 2011, followers of the Korean New Right built monuments and statues for two generals who had oppressed their compatriots on the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese colonial period.
Engel said that this conservative academic and political wave in South Korea emerged around 2005, mainly in response to a series of political setbacks they encountered. According to the Hankyoreh, Park Roo-ja, a professor at the University of Oslo in Norway, believes that the new right-wing movement was formed between 2004 and 2006, when Roh Moo-hyun was in power. In essence, it is not an exaggeration to say that this movement is an organized response by conservative vested interest groups to the "pro-Japanese truth movement" of the Roh Moo-hyun government. Park Roo-ja said that finding out the pro-Japanese truth would threaten some vested interest groups in South Korea, so they could only launch a "large-scale counterattack."
Lyu Chao, dean of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told the Global Times that the new right wing is generally considered a new variant of the pro-Japanese faction in South Korea. The pro-Japanese faction since the founding of the country is generally referred to as the right wing in South Korean political circles, and the new pro-Japanese trend that emerged around 2004 is called the "new right wing movement." At that time, this movement was an organized counterattack against the Roh Moo-hyun government's investigation and liquidation of the pro-Japanese faction.
An article in the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo in August 2024 summarized several stages of the development of the New Right, including the growth period (2004-2007), when it debuted as the New Right; the decline period (2008-2017), when many New Right groups disbanded after experiencing problems such as politicization and internal conflicts. Engel said that although many New Right organizations have been disbanded, their ideology still resonates in Korean society.
Lyu Chao said that after the current South Korean government came to power in 2022, the new right-wing forces have re-emerged. They have reinterpreted South Korea's modern history by revising history textbooks, praising the "economic growth" during the Japanese occupation, denigrating patriots such as An Jung-geun and Kim Gu, and glorifying Lee Seung-man's crime of selling out national interests.
"There is still a long way to go to bridge the political divide"
According to the Hankyoreh, the new right originally started from the 1960s in the United States and Europe, and expanded from the perspective of reaction to the change of progressive and authoritarian society. Regarding the phenomenon of the growing strength of the new right in South Korea, Kim Yun-chul, a professor of political science at the College of Humanities at Kyung Hee University, told the Hankyoreh that the current South Korean government seems determined to rely on strong right-wing and conservative tendencies to exert political power, which is the background for the unity of the new right.
Park Ro-ja analyzed that this force's unconditional glorification of the hegemonic countries in the world system and their regional allies is in line with the current South Korean government's diplomatic concept. In addition, the current South Korean government's de facto military alliance with Japan and its blind obedience to the United States will justify the historical view that positions the United States and Japan as "preachers of capitalist civilization." Park Ro-ja said that in this sense, the historical view of the new right is similar to the concept of the current South Korean government. Engel said in his article that South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeong-ho said in 2005 that the new right advocates "liberal values that cherish individual freedom." He emphasized the need to strengthen the South Korea-US alliance based on common values of democracy and capitalism.
Regarding the actions of the new right wing in South Korea in the field of history, political forces such as the Democratic Party of Korea and media such as the Hankook Ilbo have opposed it, but there are also political forces that support it. The American "Foreign Policy" website published an article saying that the controversy over historical figures such as Fan Hongtu shows that South Korea still has a long way to go to bridge the political divide. Lu Chao believes that the left-right opposition in historical views has actually torn apart Korean society and intensified political confrontation. The two commemorative activities for Liberation Day on August 15 this year highlighted the division in South Korea on historical issues. "It's sad," South Korea's "JoongAng Ilbo" commented that the celebration of Liberation Day should have been an opportunity for national unity, but now it has become a ceremony held by the ruling party and the opposition party separately, which is impossible in a normal country.
Da Zhigang, a researcher at the Northeast Asian Research Institute of the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the fact that the new right-wingers are the heads of several historical research institutions in South Korea shows that this tendency of historical view has actually penetrated into the South Korean government departments, and this idea may gradually be accepted by more young Koreans. Da Zhigang reminded that many of the new right-wingers in South Korea are elites in politics, business, religion, and conservative media, and have strong influence and appeal. Although the new right-wingers are not mainstream in South Korea at present, we cannot ignore and underestimate this force.
