This statement is of course neither new nor proprietary to Kim Young Sam and his followers. Every leader from both sides of the military demarcation line (MDL) repeats this 'we gotta get unified' theme ad nausea without really meaning it or knowin g how to go about achieving it.
In his 51st Liberation Day speech, Mr. Kim Young Sam (Appendix 7 of the book) spoke of 'my 70 million compatriots' at the very moment when his police were gassing and arresting the university students demonstrating for the country's unification. Kim Youn g Sam has stated so many times that North Koreans are the 'enemies'. Kim Young Sam considers North Koreans as 'foreigners' even though he refers to 'my 70 million' fellow Koreans (the figure does include North Koreans) and the ROK Constitution clearly st ates that all Koreans are ROK citizens.
In the same speech, Mr. Kim Young Sam states: "I would like to humbly express my profound respect for our patriotic forefathers who sacrificed their lives to lay the foundation for our independence." This is a strange statement coming from a guy who cons iders Kim Il Sung's anti-Japanese guerrilla war a 'fake' and who has made it illegal in South Korea to honor or even to mention the Communist and leftist patriots who were the main stream of what little independence movement Korea had.
The book gives a brief history of Korea. It admits that "the Koreans failed to adapt to the new global industrialization" and thus was swallowed by Japan. This is a notable departure from the usual blaming the Emperor for this unhappy chapter in the Kore an history.
It refers to the 'organized' independence movement of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) of Rhee Syngman. In fact, KGP was neither 'organized' nor the only resistance movement. One notes that the KGP Kwang-bok 'Army' had only a few hundred men in various stages of "training" compared to the over 100,000 'Communist bandits' actually fighting the Japanese. There is no reference to these "bandits" in the book.
The 'history' given in the book skips over the years of the US Military Government in Korea (USMGIK), the retention of pro-Japanese traitors and their rule of South Korea (e.g., a former Japanese Army lieutenant (Park Chung Hee) became President of S Kore a and 'normalized relations with Japan).
It is true that North Korea started the war of 1950. Today, even North Korea admits to this simple fact by claiming that it was "provoked" into invading South Korea. The book states that North Korean 'jets' attacked South Korea - a minor error of fact f or North Korea had no jet warplanes at the outbreak of the war.
The book does not mention Rhee's unilateral decision to cross the 38th parallel in "hot' pursuits of the retreating People's Army nor the fact that South Korea (even Seoul which was occupied by both sides several times) was relatively undamaged in compari son to North Korea. The book quotes '5 million' casualties and several million refugees from North Korea. The American intelligence sources estimate 2 million North Korean casualties -- at most and no more than 500,000 refugees from North. Rhee's attem pts to sabotage the Armistice and his refusal to sign it are skipped over.
In 1954, South Korea proposed at the UN Geneva Conference to hold a general election to unite the country. This proposal was rejected by North Korea on ground that South Korea was a US colony and no election would be free as long as the US forces occupied South Korea. Since South has twice as many people as North, holding an election is a risky affair for North. This is true even now.
In the 1970's the monopoly on the international 'legitimacy' enjoyed by South Korea was broken by China and the Third World and North appeared on the world scene as a legitimate nation.
On July 4, 1972, North and South Koreas jointly announced the "July 4th Joint Statement" (Appendix 1). The whole nation rejoiced over this statement - all-be-it short-lived. It is significant to note that Park Sung Chul, North' s emissary to Seoul, and his immediate boss, Kim Young Ju (Kim Il Sung's brother) are both Vice-Presidents of North Korea today. Kim Young Ju also runs North's Tumen River Project which includes the Rajin-Sonbong Free Trade Zone.
The book does not explain why nothing came out of the 'statement'. The 'July 4th" euphoria was dashed when assassination attempts on Park Jung Hee were made by some forces associated with North. Lee Hu Rak, South Korea's envoy to North (KCIA Chief) and the main proponent of North-South dialogue was dismissed by Park Jung Hee soon after the announcement.
On October 26, 1979, Park was killed by South Korea's CIA chief Gen. Kim Jae Kyu. It is interesting to note that the US CIA suspected Park Jung Hee of being a Communist and that Kim Jae Kyu worked closely with the US CIA. Gen. Chun Doo Whan, who took ov er the KCIA after arresting and executing Kim Jae Kyu, has hinted that he has something on the US CIA-Kim-Park connection but he is yet to disclose what, if anything, he knows.
The Korean National Community Unification Formula announced on Sept. 11, 1989 loftily proclaimed that North Korea is 'a partner', not an enemy, of South Korea. The book asserts that Kim Young Sam supports this principle in spite of Kim's frequent anti-Nor th statements and his tireless efforts to isolate and stifle his Northern "partner" and "brethren".
Both sides have staged highly controlled North-South reconciliation events for pure propaganda. For example, so-called reunion of dozen or so separated families was a farce in view of the millions of separated families. Both sides keep on throwing monkey wrenches and derail the reconciliation of the country for short-term political brownie points by blaming the other guy for evil 'anti-unification' deeds.
The book describes in detail the DPRK-US Agreed Framework (Appendix 5) and claims how significant this Agreement is for Korea's unification. It fails to mention Kim Young Sam's fierce opposition to the American initiative for the agreement and his recent attempt to scuttle it in connection with the "spy sub' incident.
The book does not mention Kim Young Sam's plans for preemptive strikes on North Korea's nuclear installations in cahoots with Japan's revitalized military adventurists and the US military (who, for the record, refused to go along).
While Korea's so-called leaders play politics with the unification issue, the Korean people and the economy suffer and keep on losing one 'golden' opportunity after another. Millions of families remain separated from their loved ones across the border. Only in Korea, it is a crime punishable by death to contact one's family on the other side of MDL.
Some day, Korea will be reunited and history will record all Korean politicians of the 20th century as the worst traitors of the Korean people. Their bodies will be deemed unworthy of being buried in the Korean soil. These 'leaders' sacrificed the long- term welfare of the nation for their short-term personal gains and ego trips.
History will not be kind to the average citizens of the 20th century Korea either. For, in the final analysis, they allowed themselves to be duped and abused by their "leaders". They are the ones who supinely accepted the rape and domination by foreign devils. They have only themselves to blame for the tragedies and sufferings of the 20th century Korea.
The Korean people must stop blaming Japan, the Cold War and the Mother Nature, etc. for their problems. They must wake up to the cold reality that they, and they alone, are responsible for their fortunes and misfortunes.
This book white washes the sins of the 20th century politicians of Korea. Korea's unification will be achieved someday by the Korean people - students, workers, businessmen, scholars, religionists, journalists, educators, artists, military officer s and soldiers - and not by their so-called 'leaders'.
Tong-il-won: South Korea's Ministry of National Unification (MNU) Home Page