Series documents first interviews with Park Chung-hee’s assassin

Posted on : 2011-10-18 14:23 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The Hankyoreh explores ‘Testimony on the Park Chung-hee Era’ in previously unreleased recordings
 former director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency
former director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency

 greets subordinates with a bright expression at the grand courtroom of the Army Headquarters’ court-martial under martial law
greets subordinates with a bright expression at the grand courtroom of the Army Headquarters’ court-martial under martial law

By Kim Kyung-ae, Senior Staff Writer 

 

Kim Jae-kyu: “You know martial law was declared in Busan this September.”

(When the Busan-Masan Uprising erupted on Oct. 16, 1979, the Park Chung-hee administration declared emergency martial law on Busan as of midnight Oct. 18)

Attorney: “That’s right.”

Kim: “I ate with the president after that. There were some remarks about the Liberal Party. Home Minister Choi In-kyu [of Syng-man Rhee’s government] had given the order to fire.”

A: “He killed them all.”

Kim: “He said, ‘I do not do those sorts of things. I do things myself. That way, everything is fine when I am no longer president. Are they going to force me to step down?’ He was that kind of person, uncompromising.”

A: “Oh? He said he would give the order to fire?”

Kim: “[He said,] ‘I am giving the order myself.’”

A: “Park Chung-hee [said that]?”

Kim: “Yes.”

Tape recordings of the first testimony by Kim Jae-kyu just after his assassination of Park Chung-hee on Oct. 26, 1979, are being released for the first time in 32 years. The transcripts are being presented in a Hankyoreh series by the “godfather of the dissident democratization movement,” 69-year-old Kim Jung-nam. The series, titled “32nd Anniversary of the Park Assassination: Testimony on the Park Chung-hee Era.”

The first of the weekly testimony selections begins with Kim Jae-kyu firing a shot into the heart of the Yushin government and the final moments of Park Chung-hee the dictator. The recording captured the very first conversation between Kim and attorney Ryu Taek-hyeong, who was visiting him on Nov. 30 at the Namhan Mountain Fortress army prison ahead of his trial. The content gives an unvarnished picture of the events of Oct. 26 that cannot be found with the records of Kim’s account that have been released to date, including his final statement in court and last words on the eve of his execution. The recording and complete transcript can be found on the website of the Hankyoreh’s Internet edition at hani.co.kr.

The series then goes back to the incipient stages of the Yushin government in the 1970s to examine the suppression tactics of the dictatorship, with the “Emergency Measures” as its weapon, and the difficult struggle of pro-democracy forces against them. “I want to remind people of the forgotten reality of the dictatorship and the value of the democracy achieved in the face of it through blood, sweat, and tears,” said Kim Jung-nam.

“We must not forget the beginner’s mind and the burning thirst for democracy,” he added.

Kim Jung-nam’s account

Kim Jae-kyu’s voice was subdued, perhaps because of extensive torture. But he used every ounce of strength he had to give his account of the truth of the assassination. The quality of the recording is somewhat poor, but the content is clearly audible.

In early December 1979, I was listening to Kim Jae-kyu’s voice. It was a tape made just a few days before on Nov. 30, Kim’s first testimony since the assassination. The time was just ahead of the first scheduled trial date of Dec. 4, and human rights attorneys Gang Sin-ok, Hong Seong-u, and Hwang In-cheol were in attendance.

Early the next morning, six hours after the “Gungjeong rebellion,” Kim was taken to Chun Doo-hwan’s Defense Security Command and subjected to questioning and vicious torture. Following the Nov. 6 investigation announcement by the Joint Investigation Headquarters, he was incarcerated at the military prison. Ryu Taek-hyeong, then spokesman and human rights committee chairman for the Democratic Unification Party, had gotten word from attorney Kim Jeong-du, who had met with Kim Jae-kyu the day before. Ryu showed up at the prison unannounced and succeeded not only in meeting Kim Jae-kyu but also recording the conversation. Perhaps because officials at the military prision had no experience with political incidents, no efforts were made to stop him. Kim readily provided the reasons for the “rebellion” and the circumstances of the fatal shots.

Ryu: “He was talking about [the arrest of] Kim Young-sam?”

Kim: “Yes, he talked about that. So...”

Ryu: “So at the point, you said he needed to take a broader view in governing, and you shot him, is that it?”

Kim: “Yes.”

Ryu: “So you shot him.... So you shot Cha Ji-chul first, is that right?”

Kim: “First, it was [the person with a gun]. ‘Bang! Bang!’ Like that.”

Ryu: “And to Cha Ji-chul, you said, ‘You are a worm’?”

Kim: “No, no. He looked over here, and I said, ‘Go serve your president.’”

Ryu: “Right.”

Kim: “So [Cha] says, ‘What?’ And he takes out his gun and makes to fire back.”

Ryu: “Right, right.”

Kim: “And I said, ‘You worm,’ and fired. ‘Bang, bang.’”

The main significance of this record is that it captures the sincerity of Kim’s self-described “Oct. 26 democracy revolution” in his own unrefined voice. Up until his final words, Kim maintained his account that he “fire a shot into the heart of the Yushin government with the mind of a beast” for the sake of Park Chung-hee and liberal democracy.

I had never met him before that or after that, but I will never forget how moved I was at his voice that day. The truths spoken by Kim Jae-kyu through the tape recorder were shocking. There was such a passionate sincerity to it that it left no doubt in the mind of the listener that he was speaking the truth. It was then that I realized that sincerely spoken words were far more powerful than even the best writing.

The human rights attorneys felt the same way. Actually, they had been forced into taking on his defense through the offices of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, and before meeting Kim Jae-kyu they heard his voice and decided that they had to try to save him. The defense request came from the family of Kim’s only daughter’s husband, who were devout Catholics.

I immediately made a copy of the recording, thinking that it was important to let the world know the truth about Kim Jae-kyu. I had someone take it secretly to the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace. It traveled over to the U.S. and Europe, where it would become an important document for the emergence of a campaign from overseas to save Kim’s life.

  

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