[Interview] Korean democracy faces a hard road ahead: Author and activist Shin Young-bok

Posted on : 2008-08-28 14:07 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Though conservatives have not caught on to changes in society, young people are less politically aware

Twenty years after release from prison. Twenty years after publication.

Shin Young-bok, who had been sentenced to life in prison on charges made by the then military-backed government that he had joined an underground leftist political organization to spy for North Korea was pardoned on August 15, 1988, to mark the occasion of South Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Shin’s book “Reflections from Prison,” a collection of letters and essays written during his imprisonment of 20 years and 20 days, was published to coincide with the day of his release. Twenty years later, more than 500,000 copies of the book have been sold, making it one of the best selling books of our time.

How has this one book captured the attention of so many?

Shin, 67, was born in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, and once served as an economics professor at Sookmyung Women’s University and the Korea Military Academy. He is now a professor of economics at SungKongHoe University.

In an interview with The Hankyoreh on August 27, Shin said that he sometimes meets people who have read his book and they tell him that people who have experienced hardship seem to take comfort from his story.

He also commented on the critical responses to the book. Some people tell him that what is written in the book does not match the activism he has engaged in throughout his life, but that in general, the book has captured attention due to its “in-depth scrutiny of life and human relationships, human agony and the value of humanism.”

The book was an icon of the so-called “Regime of 1987,” which refers to the pro-democracy uprisings that were taking place nationwide and eventually brought about an end to authoritarian rule in this country. Many readers say the in-depth discourse introduced by Shin’s book caused people to think more deeply.

While in prison, Shin’s letters were censored by the government and many were never sent. He was only allowed to send letters between one to four times a month, with the number being determined by the length of time he had served. Shin said that during that time, he had to be a stronger censor of himself than the state would be so that his letters would be sent, and he assumes that his writings from this period as presented in his book form the basis for the criticism that he had lost some of his revolutionary spirit.

Shin was put into jail while he was teaching at Sookmyung University. “After I was thrown into jail from an environment where I was in school, I thought that it would help me remember the lost time if I were to write down my thoughts.” Shin said, however, that the lack of time, space and writing material did not create favorable conditions for writing, so he decided on the subject he would write about each month and then memorize the letters he would write, thinking about it “again and again.”

Some of the sentences in the book are difficult to digest because Shin was trying to squeeze as much as possible into the limited space of the letter. As Goethe once said, concision helps to draw consensus, rather than exaggeration or emphasis, Shin said.

Later in the day, an event marking the 20th anniversary of publication of “Reflections from Prison” was held by Dolbegae Publishing Co. To commemorate the event, the company announced publication of the English-language version of “Memory of Cheongguhoe,” a book written by Shin during the time he spent in a military prison after he was sentenced to death in 1969. “Memory of Cheongguhoe” is a book of essays on his relationships with six children he once taught.

Though Shin was involved in the student movement, he never became a member of Tonghyukdang, the Unification Revolution Party, though the prosecution charged him with this.

“Tonghyukdang was not an official organization, but I heard later that there was a branch formed in Seoul. As part of the student movement, I actively participated in an organization led by an upperclassman, whose uncle seemed to be in North Korea. At that time, many progressive scholars were writing for a magazine called ‘Cheongmaek,’ and I joined them. That was also considered part of the student movement.”

At his trial, the prosecution accused Shin of trying to prepare for an upheaval with violence and destruction, citing the words of a song he had written for six elementary school students. The lyrics say: We are growing up strong as we clench our fists. The prosecution asked whether the words “clenching our fists” indicated Shin was preparing for a violent upheaval of the government.

Twenty years after he was imprisoned, Shin was released. It was a dream come true for Shin’s parents, who saw another dream come true when Shin married immediately after his release. Sadly, though, Shin’s ailing mother died less than a year later. Seven years after that, his father also died.

Now, twenty years after his release, the “Regime of 1987” has collapsed to be replaced by a return to conservatism. “Twenty years ago, after the June 29 declaration was made, I thought that democratization was neither perfect nor thorough. At the time, I thought that the most important thing in the process of social revolution was to build leadership. Since then, we have seen the formation of progressive political parties, but we have not yet seen the creation of a force capable of embracing both the democratic and revolutionary forces in our society,” Shin said. He added that the actions being taken by the conservatives in power today may provide the momentum needed to get the job done.

Shin used three concepts to explain our society: “incomplete democracy,” “a deeply-rooted and bigoted conservative structure,” and “penetration and plundering by international financial capital.” Citing the Injo Banjeong, an event in Joseon period history in 1623, he said the two political factions involved at the time and the political ruling groups that have followed “have never been changed.” Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun were “excluded and neglected by the powerful conservative ruling group that had control over the media, capital, the judicial system, and the country’s sociocultural base.”

Saying that the reproductive structure of our society’s ruling elite is wholly dependent on the United States, he said that it is “extremely dangerous for our society to be going ‘all in’ on the U.S.-centered neoliberal hegemonic order.” The conservatives who place all their hopes and expectations on America still talk about the “lost decade,” but according to Shin, “they have lost the new sensibility and cultural consciousness of young people as displayed in the candlelight protests, sensibility about the change that has taken place over the last decade.”

Shin thinks the current administration is going to run into a lot of difficulty on the road ahead. But he was also pessimistic about the possibility for revolutionary change, saying that, with increasingly elaborate and popular tools in modern society for winning over the public, and especially with the ruling elite’s manipulation of the media and other imagery, it will be hard to expect political awareness on the part of young people today.

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

Most viewed articles