dailies-editorials (2)

(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on Aug. 31)

Anachronistic McCarthyism

Revising history requires national consensus

Hong Beom-do is one of the most famous Korean generals who led the independence fight against Japanese colonialists in the 1920s and '30s.

In 2018, the Moon Jae-in administration set up the busts of General Hong and four other resistance leaders at the Korean Military Academy (KMA). They are the founding fathers of the Korean military and the Republic of Korea.

So, most Koreans were puzzled days ago when the KMA said it considered relocating Hong's bust somewhere else. It cited his record of collaborating with Soviet communist forces.

However, one must not judge historical figures by today's standards.

In the early 20th century, leftists led the armed fight against the Japanese Imperial Army in Manchuria with the help of China and Russia. The U.S. had condoned Japan's occupation of Korea until Pearl Harbor. Hong died in 1943 before Korea was liberated. He did not know his country would be divided into two and who would rule its northern half.

All this explains why former President Park Chung-hee, a staunch anti-communist, posthumously decorated Hong in 1962. Park's daughter and another conservative president, Park Geun-hye, also named an up-to-date Navy submarine after Hong in 2016. The only change since then was that a "new right" government took office about 15 months ago. Are Koreans watching the birth of their first ultra-right government?

The presidential office denies it has anything to do with the moves of the KMA or the Defense Ministry. That's cowardly. President Yoon Suk Yeol and his aides have always stayed behind administrative agencies while testing public opinion whenever they made unpopular decisions. Still, there are limits to hiding one's true feelings. The KMA's move came right after Yoon attacked the followers of "communist totalitarianism" in his National Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15.

Yoon's anachronistic remarks also stunned most Koreans, who thought communism died in 1989. Few countries, or even political groups, name themselves communist except for some splinter parties in Europe. The KMA's treatment of General Hong also reveals a glaring double standard with another famous ex-communist. Former President Park Chung-hee was a South Korean Labor Party member and was sentenced to death for an abortive rebellion in 1949. The KMA says the two figures cannot be compared. Whoever said history is a record of the winners was correct.

The president's hatred of leftists and progressives may be related to his prioritization of the trilateral alliance with the U.S. and Japan. Another three-nation bloc of China, Russia, and North Korea is on the other side.

However, 70 years after fighting stopped in the Korean War, regional powers don't seem to care about resuming it. What has changed is that America's main rival is now China, not Russia. Japan will also stop being a peripheral component and become a primary player. Superpowers don't fight directly but do it indirectly via their proxies. Should Koreans do that twice in less than a century? This peninsula could turn to ashes again, even in a conventional war.

Historical revision is possible ― or even necessary ― given a national consensus. Still, Yoon's shift to the far-right camp faces opposition even from most ruling party bigwigs. If the president fails to win widespread support from his party, he must stop.

The president may have the parliamentary elections next May in mind. Or he might have a far bigger and longer goal of maintaining a right-wing government for decades. To do so, however, he has far more urgent tasks to tackle by making people safer and wealthier. Yoon's foreign and economic policies go in opposite ways. He must reopen dialogue with the North and spend the dividends of peace for the economy and industry.

Military leaders must also stop watching the faces of political power and do their job. They must better protect soldiers' rights and welfare while improving emergency preparedness.

Yoon says reestablishing national identity is vital. However, if it means returning to the 20th century, few Koreans will agree.

Tuesday was the 113th anniversary of "National Humiliation Day" when Japan forced Korea to sign the annexation treaty.

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