Today I met with Korean activists who have been associated
with the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) which the right-wing government of
President Park has had banned. The UPP
had six members in the National Assembly who were forced out of power. Their great crime? It’s hard to believe but essentially what the UPP did was dared
to call for reunification of North and South Korea and the removal of US
military bases across their occupied nation.
Under the draconian National Security Law (NSL) it is a
crime to call and work for reunification and to challenge US war bases in
Korea. President Park, the daughter of
former brutal dictator Park Jung-Hee, is drowning the exercise of democracy in
her country because Washington does not want a free flowing democracy to happen
inside of this military colony that sits in such a strategic spot so close to
China and Russia.
The past president Park Jung-Hee had been a Korean
collaborator with the imperial Japanese during their long and nasty occupation
of Korea. Following the defeat of Japan
at the end of WW II the US military occupation forces in Korea put the former
Japanese collaborators in charge. This
created the dynamic that led to the Korean war that ultimately saw the collaborators
taking control of the south (with full US backing) and the liberation forces
controlling the north.
The current President Park nominated a former Minister of
Justice official (who created the draconian constitution which allowed her
father to be president without term limits) as Chief Presidential Secretary
soon after she was elected. The Secretary then
began a media oriented witch-hunt that led to the arrest of the
seven members of the UPP on specious charges of ‘conspiracy of insurrection’. Ultimately the case went to the Supreme
Court and the seven party members were sentenced from two to nine years in
prison. The UPP was vilified in the
corporate controlled media and the party was dissolved. Party workers were
labeled and many now find it hard to get work due to the red baiting by the repressive government in Seoul.
I had lunch with two of the wives of now jailed UPP
officials. They shared the sad story of
their homes being raided by the Korean CIA (who called the media from the
raided homes to ensure that cameras were rolling when computers were carted
away along with nearly empty boxes giving the impression of mounds of evidence
being discovered thus condemning the government critics.)
The women talked about the toll the red baiting campaign has
taken on their children and their relationships with extended family, neighbors
and friends. Fearing they might be
labeled as ‘associates’ many friends turned away. One of the women told a story about going to the local hospital
in hopes of speaking to a psychologist to help deal with the stress but the
mental health professional suggested she try another hospital.
When one of the husbands arrived at the KCIA office he was
told he was arrested for past work against US military bases and other social
justice organizing.
The Supreme Count eventually dropped the ‘plotting for
insurrection charge’ but maintained the conspiracy charges on the seven UPP
activists. Religious leaders,
particularly Catholics, backed the jailed UPP members. Jeju Island Catholic Bishop Kang sent a
letter to Rome about the case asking for support from the Pope. When Pope Francis visited South Korea in
2014 members of the families were able to briefly meet with the pontiff. This religious community support helped lead
to a reduction in charges and a serious reduction in the final prison sentences
for the seven leaders.
I asked the women what message they would share with readers
of this blog. One responded:
“My son, now 8 years old, was asked ‘What are your
wishes?’ He used to say ‘I want my dad
to come home as soon as possible.’ Now
he says he wants reunification of Korea.
Our suffering is not because of our own doing and can happen to others
unless we have reunification – without reunification there will be no justice
and no peace.”
The other wife said:
“My daughter is a college senior who came home and packed up
and left the house as soon as school vacation started. She is now working on the Comfort Woman
issue. Maintaining the peace requires
everyone to help with the work and to do his or her own share. We have to link the various issues like the
KIA automobile workers struggling for justice to what is happening to the
UPP. It is all one struggle for
justice.”
Following lunch we all moved to the entrance of March 1st
Park (the day that South Korean people had their mobilization against Japanese
occupation). Speeches were made in
support of the seven imprisoned UPP leaders.
I was asked to share some words and I talked about being moved hearing
the stories of the suffering families.
I stated that democracy means healthy debate, democracy means you are
supposed to question authority, and that it should not be a crime to call for
US military bases to be closed down and for the reunification of the Korean
nation.
I was told that it is believed by many inside South Korea
that the US government has to ‘approve’ anyone who wishes to become president
of this beleaguered nation. Many are
convinced that the current Park regime unleashed this attack on the UPP to
divert attention from serious charges that the National Intelligence Service
(NIS) directly interfered in the last national election that brought President
Park to power.
It is clear that South Korea is essentially a client state
of the US military industrial corporate complex. The jailed UPP leaders are being used to send an unambiguous message to the people of South Korea.
Don’t you dare stand up and seek an independent and sovereign
nation.
The UPP seven should be supported and applauded for their
courage to stand up for true peace and justice.
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