13) LEFT UNDER ATTACK
IN SOUTH KOREA
(The
following
article is from the February 1-14, 2009, issue of People's Voice,
Canada's
leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the
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By Sean Burton
They say the Korean Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ) is the last front of the Cold War, marking the division
between the "Juche" socialist North, and the staunchly capitalist (and
Americanized) South. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers lie on both
sides of the border. But the Cold War was never just a military or
economic confrontation. It was also a war of words and ideas. In the
United States, such viciousness was manifested in "McCarthyism," named
for Senator Joseph McCarthy, who spearheaded anti-communist and
anti-progressive witch hunts that destroyed many lives and drummed up a
fear of the Left.
The war of
words has never
ended, not in the US, nor in South Korea, where many civic
organizations are devoted to uprooting anything they perceive as
"leftist". One such organization is the People's Coalition Against
Antinational Education. "Antinational education"? With a phrase like
that, one would assume Koreans were being forced to learn Japanese all
over again. But no, it means education "tilted to the Left". Naturally,
President Lee Myun Bak and his ministries are supportive of this
definition.
Under attack
in particular are
history textbooks accused of downplaying South Korea's economic
"miracle" after the 1950-53 war, and focusing instead on the excesses
of state leaders. By not presenting a "positive view of Korea's economy
and democracy," the texts are said to "undermine" the country's values.
The latter statement comes from South Korea's defense ministry - no
surprise, since several South Korean presidents either owed their
position to the military or were generals who seized power themselves.
The books
also place greater
emphasis on the struggles of Koreans for national independence in the
face of a perceived American occupation. For example, a page from one
text apparently emphasises that it was the US flag that was raised in
Seoul when the Japanese surrendered, and not the Korean taegukgi. The
book also had no qualms about calling Syngman Rhee a dictator, or for
that matter any number of his successors, like General Park Chung Hee.
This is to the horror of the South Korean right, which balks at the
notion that national division might not be due to the North Korean
communists.
Meanwhile,
the People's
Coalition has done something else to attack the Left, releasing the
names of some five thousand members of a progressive union in Seoul,
the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union. They claim that the
"biases" of the members of this union undermine the entire education
system. The Coalition has announced that it will soon release over
70,000 names from across the country, according to the Korea Herald.
Union leaders had already gone to court in October when they were
accused by the coalition of violating the national security law.
As an
educator, I am appalled by
these events. The neat and tidy history demanded by the right wingers
of South Korea is dangerous. It is a lie that "external factors" such
as the United States had no impact on national division. It is a lie
that Syngman Rhee or many later presidents were great fathers of
democracy. People must know of the massacres of civilians during the
war and during peacetime. They must know of the resistance to American
occupation and to Syngman Rhee that toppled his government. No matter
what kind of economic growth the South experienced under Park Chung
Hee, he was a dictator, and assassinated.
In response
to the argument that "money's all that matters," these truths must be
made widely known.