hankyoreh

The Lee Myung-bak administration’s goals in pushing revisions to history textbooks have become apparent. The new middle school textbook writing standards released a few days ago omit the “critical approach to dictatorial rule during the Rhee Syng-man and Park Chung-hee administrations” demanded by the previous standards, stipulating only “an account of the development process of liberal democracy.” This is an attempt to sanitize the autocratic practices of the two administrations into the “development of liberal democracy.”
The term “liberal democracy” in Korean is considered controversial for its strongly implied support of free market capitalism and anti-communist and anti-socialist connotations. Some say the term is exclusionary, since the national movement against Japanese rule had some connection to socialist movements.
The Lee administration previously had the term “democracy” changed to “liberal democracy” in the amended history textbook curriculum, its focus solely on answering the demands of New Right-affiliated scholars with pro-government leanings. In so doing, it ran harshly over not only the opinions of a majority in the academic community but also research findings and decisions according to set procedure. The basis for this was a concept of the “basic order of liberal democracy” first articulated in the Yushin Constitution established by Park Chung-hee for his perpetual rule. That administration created the constitution on the pretext of guarding the liberal democratic order from Communist rule, developing it into a basis for autocratic tactics, human rights violations, and perpetual rule. It provided a constitutional underpinning to the dictatorship of Rhee Syng-man, who did anything he saw fit in the name of anti-Communism.
In using “liberty” as a pretext for suppressing citizen liberties, Park was no different from the Kim Il-sung regime in North Korea that used a “people’s dictatorship” as a pretext to rob the people of their sovereignty. When the Yushin system was described as “South Korean-style democracy,” this was akin to the dynastic succession of dictatorial power in North Korea being described as “people’s democracy.” Amid all the word play, real democracy and popular sovereignty were trampled upon. The dictatorial tactics of the Rhee and Park administrations were less about guarding democracy from Communism and more about shoring up the interests of a small political, economic, and military elite.
The roots of the two dictatorships lie in collaborationist warlords, media, landholders, and wealthy interests from the Japanese occupation. To stay alive after the empire’s end, they shouted the cause of anti-Communism and were ultimately hired on by the U.S. military and Rhee administration. At the end of the day, the Lee administration’s attempt to willfully revamp the history curriculum is nothing more than a move to permanently institutionalize the vested interested of the heirs and beneficiaries of a dictatorial system rooted in collaborationism. Their efforts to repudiate the legitimacy of the Provisional Government and paint the Japanese annexation in a positive light can also be understood along these lines.
The world is focusing its attention now on the spread of democracy. The “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations that are spreading around the world represent a resistance against market fundamentalism that would subordinate the human being to capital and curtail democracy. In spite of this, the Lee administration is seeking to revive the ghosts of dictators past. The regression is frightening to witness.
　　
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