South Korean Politics and Elections

Former President Chun Directed Oppression of Buddhist Monks in 1980

Korea Times, October 25, 2007

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Former President Chun Doo-hwan ordered a brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks in the early 1980s to remove the administrative head of the Korean Buddhist Jogye Order, who the Chun government considered a dissident, a government fact-finding panel reported Thursday.

Chun has denied he was involved in the case, dubbed the ``Oct. 27 incident.''

The committee at the Ministry of National Defense also revealed Chun's authoritarian government set the professional qualifications for journalists as part of efforts to take control of the country's media in the 1980s.

On Oct. 27, 1980, the Chun administration mobilized more than 3,200 police and soldiers to search 5,731 temples nationwide and arrested more than 150 monks, according to the report.

The panel said the Chun government had made a secret report on Ven. Wolju's ``corrupt activities'' before the massive crackdown. Head monks of large temples in the country were referred to in the classified report as ``gangs.''

Many of the arrested monks were tortured and forced to resign from their posts, the panel said. Wolju also was forced to step down.

Torture methods included beatings, water torture, electric shock and sleep deprivation, it said.

``It is a typical power abuse case aimed at oppressing a specific religious order,'' the panel said, adding the Korean government should apologize for the wrongdoings and compensate the Jogye Order for damages.

In 1988, Prime Minister Kang Young-hoon apologized for the incident, but it was made without a proper investigation into the case, the panel said.

Meanwhile, the report reconfirmed the Chun regime's considerable control and surveillance over the media.

News agencies were absorbed into a single agency, while numerous provincial newspapers were closed and newspapers in Seoul were forbidden to station correspondents in provincial cities, it said.

Two broadcasting companies were forced to be absorbed into the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).

The Defense Security Command, and the Ministry of Culture and Information ordered hundreds of ``dissident journalists'' fired and banned from reporting or editing, the panel said.

The dismissed journalists were then categorized into several classes, and limitations were placed on their reinstatement in accordance with their ``wrongdoings,'' such as ``pro-North Korean activities, articles against government policies, irregularities, incompetence and negligence of duty,'' according to the committee.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

On anniversary of democracy movement, conservatives stay home

Presidential hopefuls from liberal parties are only shows to nat’l commemoration

Hankyoreh, June 11, 2007

Progressive candidates for president spent the day of the 20th anniversary of the start of the June Struggle at commemorative events and observations, while candidates running for nomination by the conservative Grand National Party stayed largely out of the public eye, attending to personal schedules.

Former Uri Party chairmen Chung Dong-young and Kim Keun-tae, former prime minister Han Myeong-sook, National Assembly member Chun Jung-bae, and former Gyeonggi province governor Sohn Hak-hyu - all considered possibilities as progressive presidential candidates - were seen at the official state commemoration of the democracy campaign of June 1987. Each also made appearances at the twentieth memorial observances of the death of Lee Han-yeol, killed in 1987 after a fiberglass tear gas canister fired by police struck the Yonsei University student’s head, was held in Seoul City Hall Plaza.

In comments to reporters, they stressed the need to continue the spirit of the June Struggle through national unity and - naturally - by having a progressive candidate win this year’s presidential election.

Won Hee-ryong and Go Jin-hwa, both former student activists, were the only presidential hopefuls from the conservative opposition Grand National Party to attend the state-sponsored event. However, they are not the favorites for their party’s nomination.

Former Seoul mayor and likely GNP nominee Lee Myung-bak said he did not attend because he does not currently hold public office and therefore was not invited.

Park Geun-hye, currently second in the polls for GNP nominee, chose not to attend for personal reasons. Her spokesperson issued a statement, saying that it is "time to carry out regional reconciliation, ideological reconciliation, and generational reconciliation" on the occasion of the anniversary of the June Struggle. The statement said Park promises to "make Korea a developed nation in five years amidst this kind of national reconciliation." Hong Jun-pyo, a powerful figure in the GNP but an unlikely choice for nominee, was also absent, citing personal reasons.

Noting that this year is the first time there was an official state event to observe the anniversary, GNP member Go Jin-hwa said it "would have been nice if GNP candidates had postponed their personal schedules and attended."

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

Thousands of people gather in Seoul to recall pro-democracy rally 20 years ago

Hankyoreh, June 10, 2007

Thousands of people gathered in central Seoul Saturday to commemorate a pro-democracy rally that took place 20 years ago to protest against dictatorship, police said.

The peaceful rally was held a day before the government plans to host an official ceremony for the first time to mark the 20th anniversary of the so-called June 1987 struggle.

Many see the nationwide demonstration two decades ago as historically significant because it helped usher in democracy to South Korea which had been under military dictatorship for decades.

Diverse commemorative events were held throughout the day in Seoul. Around 2,500 people including civic activists participated in the events designed to remember those who suffered in the brutal crackdown on the protest.

Some 4,500 police were deployed in the square before Seoul City Hall and other areas to stave off possible problems.

There were no reports of clashes between police and participants with only a little traffic congestion reported as some inter-city roads were blocked, police said.

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap News)