hankyoreh

By Ahn Seon-hee, staff reporter

“Achieving Korean unification through war or absorption is impossible due to a geopolitical location between continental powers such as China and Russia, and maritime powers such as the US and Japan. Because of this location, there have been several occasions where our country faced the dangers of division before liberation in 1945. The reason why we study history is to accurately understand the status and position of our country in order to deal with the future”.

Veteran historian and honorary professor at Korea University Kang Man-gil, 80, recently released, The Pain of Division and History of Prospects for Unification, a historical narrative which is centered on key words such as division and unification from the 1894 Gapsin coup to the Lee Myung-bak administration. Kang has held various positions such as Professor of Korean History at Korea University, President at Sangji University, and Chairman of Truth Committee on Japanese Collaborators Anti-national Activities. Currently he is chairman of the board at Chungmyung.org. Some of his books include, Historical Awareness of the Era of Division, A Rewritten Modern Korean History, and A Rewritten Contemporary Korean History.

On May 24 in an office at the Chungmyung cultural foundation located in Seoul’s Nagwon neighborhood, Kang discussed his recent book, “I tried to write it so that more readers could easily approach and know about the history of our division”. He emphasized, “I hope the young generation of the 21st century will read it. They will be responsible for taking a new historical direction in the new century”. This is also a reason why he wrote the book in a conversational tone.

The emphasis of his book is on the geopolitical location of the Korean peninsula its effects on the history of the Korean nation. He explained, “Located between a continent and ocean, China and Japan first went to war to absorb our land, and then Russian and Japan. Japan succeeded in winning both wars and ruled our country twice.” Kang also explained that international powers such as Japan, Russia and England had already debated dividing the peninsula in the late 19th century, and theories on permanent neutrality had already appeared over 100 years ago.

The most dramatic instance where these two forces collided is when the continental forces China and the Soviet Union and maritime forces South Korea, US, and Japan faced each other in the Korean War. Kang said, “It has already been proved through the Korean War that as long as the two forces are opposed to each other, we cannot achieve Korean unification through war. Unification through absorption is also not an option because that can only be established under one system, which will not be allowed by the surrounding forces”. Through history we have learned how peaceful unification, unification through negotiation is the only option.

Kang said, “It is important for the South and the North to recognize each other’s governments and systems, and start interchange. If that is established, then peace will settle in and then we will come to understand each other. After all of this, then we will be able to see the next way”. Through the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, the direction of inter-Korean relations took a step forward, but inter-Korean relations were strained after the Lee Myung-bak administration. Recently, the North Korean nuclear program has become a dominant issue. Kang said, “The problem between North and South has to be solved through negotiations. But this doesn’t work when a person with ten pieces asks a person with five pieces to trade one for one. Because South Korea has more to spare, we have to show more generous behavior”. In order to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, diplomatic relations between North Korea and the US and the giving up of nuclear weapons from the North has to take place at the same time. For this to happen, Kang thinks that South Korea has to proactively mediate between North Korea and the US.

He firmly said, “To assess governments, we need two kinds of assessments at the same time. First, we need to look at how they contributed to democracy in politics, the economy, society and culture. Second, what they did to make peaceful reunification possible. In terms of the latter, the Lee Myung-bak administration did nothing significant that can be recorded. In the case of the Park Geun-hye administration, we have to wait and see. Because she has visited North Korea once, she may have a different approach than the previous administration".

Recently, interest in unification amongst young people has waned, and there are more young people who feel hostile toward North Korea. In response, Kang asks, "Then are you going to live this way forever? I remember like it was yesterday when I contemplated on when to go to the military when I was in university. Even though 60 years have passed, young people who are like grandsons to me still have to have the same worries and sacrifice their time. Until when will we have to use two years of our precious twenties in the military? Until when do we have to live under the disgrace of being called the ‘Powder keg of the Far East?’"

Kang said, "The goal of learning history is not only in knowing the past but in knowing the past in order to carve out a more desirable future. Young people should not be fixated on the immediate reality and should widen their perspective to have a sense of responsibility for the future through studying history. Historians should also not just stay within their ivory tower. They should reach out and communicate with the public and meet the demands of the times". These are the wishes of an old historian who calls himself a pacifist and an open-minded nationalist.

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