[Feature] Former student activist now embraces conservativism

Posted on : 2007-01-16 14:22 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Choi Hong-jae a changed voice from the democracy movement
Choi Hong-jae
Choi Hong-jae

Among those once wanted by authorities for plotting to overthrow the government, there are many who have since drifted to the right, joining forces with the "former enemy."

When Choi Hong-jae, 40, the head of organization at the Liberty Union, a group aligned with the new right, is asked about South Korea’s 1987 democracy movement, the question provokes memories both proud and shameful.

"I struggled during my freshman year, caught between the student movement, my parents’ expectations, and my own dreams of becoming a reporter. Yet the uprising that June dispelled any reservations I held. I grew convinced that victory was in reach, and that I could make others happy and lead a life of value by participating. After that, I never looked back."

Choi became a fervent student activist. In his first year of college, he was arrested during a protest and spent a short time detained by police. At the end of that year, he was arrested again, this time for violating the Election Law. Yet life behind bars did not dampen his beliefs. While his friends went on to fulfill their mandatory military service, he kept the protests going on the home front. Choi was student body president of Korea University when students began immolating themselves to protest the death of Myongji University student Gang Gyeong-dae, who was hit with a tear gas shell fired by police. Choi led a group of student out onto the streets during that demonstration, shouting, "Down with the government!"

He lived as a fugitive after the issuing of a warrant for his arrest in August 1991. He turned himself in in 1994. Regarding that period spent running from the law, Choi said that he was "overcome with apprehension every time I moved, and was plagued with nightmares," he said. Before that time, he said, "all I did was enjoy myself and fight with riot policemen."

In 1993, Choi became the policy chairman of the far left student group Hanchongryun, served on the National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification of Korea until 1997, and led a group aimed at helping North Korean citizens overcome their food shortage. But it was at this time that his thinking began to change.

Choi Hong-jae in 1993
Choi Hong-jae in 1993

"I have lost my faith in you."

"So you were just another guy out to grab power?"

Such were the reactions of Choi’s friends after he gave an interview to the conservative Chosun Ilbo in 2004. Completely rejecting his prior beliefs in the interview, the story left his old "comrades" in a state of disbelief. But Choi does not waver on the point that Kim Jong-il is 100 times worse than former President Chun Doo-hwan, whose regime he was once hell-bent on overthrowing.

In 1991, Hanchongryun members Park Seong-hui and Seong Yong-seung snuck into North Korea. After departing the North, they lived in exile in Germany until 1998, charged with having violated South Korea’s National Security Law for visiting the North without permission. Choi had maintained contact with these two fellow group members. When they told him of their trip to the North that "many people starve while the party leadership lives in luxury," he was shocked. Upon their return to the South, they had a press conference at which they spoke with regret of their past activism, saying "the pro-North activities of Hanchongryun helped fuel North Korean propaganda, and for this we apologize." Choi was astonished by his companions’ turnaround.

It was from this time he began to believe that the North's food shortages were due not to U.S. sanctions or the collapse of the Soviet Union, but rather to problems within the North.

These days, Choi departs for work at 9 a.m. and returns home at 10:30 p.m. Recently, he has been busy voicing his opposition to the so-called "tax bomb" of raising property tax rates, which the government has proposed as a way to curb real estate speculation. At the Liberty Union, he is responsible for managing the organization’s membership as well as communicating with groups allied in cause.

"Just as we try to push North Korea onto the path of democracy and a market economy, we also hope to fortify these principles within South Korean society. The recently discussed comprehensive real estate tax and inheritance tax are extortionate, not fitting for a market economy, and are a manifestation of hostility towards the rich."

He is now a full-fledged believer in the market economy. After all, he reasons, whereas a few countries have failed in the implementation of a market economy, every single country that has not employed one has failed. Whether a worker or a CEO, he believes that everyone can live well so long as industries succeed and provide jobs. In contrast, his interest in social welfare and wealth redistribution has declined.

To Choi, the experience of 1987 is "like a rib bone from a chicken" - there is not enough meat to chew on, but there is just enough to make throwing it out a shame. He is proud of the movement, yet regrets the tactics it used.

"Our whole generation should be proud that we cultivated democracy," he said. "The camaraderie felt among those who contributed to the formation of democracy is invaluable. That being said, we invoked the ideoloies of North Korea’s Juch [self-reliance] or Marxism to mobilize all students together, but it was wrong to lean toward those ideologies.


By Lee Jeong-hun

Translated by Daniel Rakove

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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