Korea Betrayed Also by Donald Kirk Korea Witness: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm (co-editor, with Choe Sang Hun) Korean Crisis: Unraveling of the Miracle in the IMF Era Looted: The Philippines After the Bases Philippines in Crisis: U.S. Power versus Local Revolt The Business Guide to the Philippines (general editor) Tell It to the Dead: Stories of a War Korean Dynasty: Hyundai and Chung Ju Yung Tell It to the Dead: Memories of a War Wider War: The Struggle for Cambodia, Thailand and Laos Korea Betrayed Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine Donald Kirk KOREA BETRAYED Copyright © Donald Kirk, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-62048-3 All rights reserved. First published in 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-38285-9 ISBN 978-0-230-10184-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230101845 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kirk, Donald, 1938– Korea betrayed : Kim Dae Jung and sunshine / Donald Kirk. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-349-38285-9 (alk. paper) 1. Kim, Dae Jung, 1925– 2. Presidents—Korea (South)—Biography. 3. Korea (South)—Politics and government—1988–2002. 4. Korean reunification question (1945– ) 5. Korea (South)—Relations—Korea (North) 6. Korea (North)—Relations—Korea (South) I. Title. DS922.4642.K514K57 2010 951.9505092—dc22 [B] 2009013781 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Sunny This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword ix One Man from Mokpo 1 Two People’s Choice 17 Three Matador Politics 33 Four Time of Violence 51 Five On Trial for Democracy 67 Six From Prison to Exile 85 Seven Birth of Democracy 103 Eight In Democratic Opposition 119 Nine Dawn of Sunshine 137 Ten Sunshine at Its Zenith 155 Eleven Sunshine under Fire 173 Twelve Time of Corruption 191 Epilogue Nobel Oblige 209 Notes 217 Bibliography 233 Index 239 This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD Kim Dae Jung’s loyal followers and fiercest critics turned out by the tens of thousands to mourn his passing on August 18, 2009, at memori- als around South Korea. No other Korean leader had inspired such hope yet encountered such disappointment in fulfilling his vision for a peaceful, reunited country. This book evolved over more than a decade, from Kim Dae Jung’s election campaign during the 1997 economic crisis, through his five- year presidency from February 25, 1998, to February 25, 2003, to its aftermath of revelations, denials, and explanations. I first interviewed him in his home in Seoul’s Mapo district in 1972 and saw him many more times over the years. My view of the man has changed with the history of modern Korea. From the idealism of the democracy move- ment sprang the fervor and tragedy of Gwangju followed by impris- onment and exile in America. Then came the presidency, triumph on a global stage, the corruption inherent in the quest for an inter-Korean summit and Nobel Peace Prize—and the paradox of nonconcern about the suffering above the line between the two Koreas. Throughout, I refer to Kim Dae Jung either by his full name or by the initials “DJ” by which he is widely known. The repeated use of the initials is a sign of neither disrespect nor informality but a device to distinguish him from the many other Koreans named Kim without having constantly to spell out the entire name. Shorthand is also used for the other two of “the three Kims,” Kim “YS” Young Sam and Kim “JP” Jong Pil. (Similarly, DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea, and ROK is the Republic of Korea, South Korea.) The transliteration or romanization of the Hangul spelling of Korean names is another issue since the Korean government in DJ’s presidency revised the Western spellings to conform more closely to the spoken x Foreword language than did the classic “McCune-Reischauer” system in use since 1939. Thus I refer to the city of “Gwangju” rather than “Kwangju” except when the name appears as “Kwangju” in titles or quotations from other sources. Similarly, “Pusan” becomes “Busan,” “Inchon” is “Incheon,” “Taegu” is “Daegu,” and “Taejon” is “Daejeon.” I have not, however, revised names of South Korean provinces or the North Korean enclaves of Kaesong and Kumkang since the revised spellings in those cases may do more to confuse rather than assist the reader. (Thankfully the names of South Korea’s capital, Seoul, and the North Korean capital of Pyongyang are the same in both the “old” and “new” systems.) For her kindness, patience, and understanding in the process of research and writing, I wish to express my deepest thanks to Sung Hee along with her sister, Sung Eun, and their parents, Lee Nam Bok and Chang Ki Tak. I am also grateful to numerous colleagues, notably journalist Choe Sang Hun for reading the manuscript and for frequent comments and cups of coffee. International human rights specialist David Hawk, Professor Kim Choong Nam of the East-West Center in Honolulu, Professor William Stueck of the University of Georgia, and correspondent and editor Hal Piper also read the manuscript and offered comments and corrections. And thanks to the staff of the Kim Dae Jung Presidential Library and Museum for providing much useful material, to the library of Yonsei University for letting me see its Kim Dae Jung collection, to the Korea Democracy Foundation for access to its library, and to the keepers of Kim Dae Jung’s restored boyhood home and the Museum of the Peasants Movement in Haui 3 Islands on Haui-do for their hospitality during several visits. In addition, I should thank editors on papers ranging from the Chicago Tribune, for which I visited Korea from 1972 to 1974 while based in Tokyo as far east correspondent, to USA Today, for which I wrote about Korea in Washington and traveled to Seoul for the 1986 Asia Games and the 1988 Olympics, to the International Herald Tribune, which I served as Korea correspondent from 1997 to 2003, and to the Christian Science Monitor, for which I filed from Seoul and Washington from 2004. Thanks also to John Barry Kotch, “the doctor,” for having me write the Sunshine chapter for Korea Confronts the Future and to an intrepid translator who desires to remain anonymous. Numerous contacts gave insights into Kim Dae Jung’s politicking and presidency, the road to the North-South summit of June 2000 and the campaign for the Nobel. Among these are Cho Gab Je, former editor-in-chief of Monthly Chosun; Lee Chang Choon, former Foreword xi ambassador and writer; commentator Shim Jae Hoon; consultant and Rotarian Jang Song Hyon; analyst Choi Won Ki, aka Brent Choi, and scholar Victor Fic. Finally, I am grateful for interviews with Kim Ki Sam, now living in asylum in the United States. As some of these names suggest, I became convinced while report- ing, researching, and writing this book and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles that Kim Dae Jung represents a special brand of pro- test in Korean society. His life was dedicated to a view of justice and equality informed by his origins in southwestern Korea and his protest against the dictators who dominated the South for much of his political career. On the basis of this experience DJ was willing to yield on other principles, to compromise on South Korea’s struggle against North Korea and, finally, to provide the North with the resources to survive not just as an isolated dictatorship but as a nascent nuclear power that posed a threat to regional if not global security. This book, then, traces the evolution of this process in the life and times of a leader who battled dictators in the South before appealing to the one in the North. In the spirit of a faux reconciliation, the South unwittingly promoted the ambitions of a mortal foe that relied on the largesse of others to achieve its ambitions as exemplified by periodic tests of ballistic missiles—and explosions of nuclear “devices.” If the policy failed, Sunshine remains the dream that Kim Dae Jung held before the world as the goal for his nation and people. Seoul and Washington, 2009 CHINA • NORTH KOREA wI Sea • Ullung IlliM W",I SOUTH ('lid},,,,,) POO." 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