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Democracy Holds Steady in South Korea
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14232 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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7 / 1988 |
1,852 Words |
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Mike Breen
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When the newly appointed director of South Korea's main intelligence agency paid a courtesy call to top opposition leader Kim Dae-jung in mid-May, even the most skeptical observers became convinced that the change under way in South Korea is substantial.
Less than a year ago, Kim was Public Enemy No. 1 as far as the powerful Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP) was concerned. Now he leads the country's top opposition party in the opposition-dominated National Assembly.
Kim spent most of the 1980s behind bars, in exile, or under house arrest. The government employed hundreds of agents to surveil him and other dissidents, and thousands of riot police to quell their protests at a cost of millions of dollars.
The ANSP has been the government's main strong arm, and its estimated 23,000 agents have arguably spent as much time protecting Korea's authoritarian rulers from Kim as they have fulfilling their proper mission of protecting the country from North Korea.
Now the government says that the powerful agency, which had more powers than the CIA and FBI combined, will be restricted to counterespionage operations and overseas information gathering.
To underscore the planned change, the new ANSP chief visited with leaders of the opposition parties for the first time ever. Bae Myung-in was shown in front-page photographs in local newspapers bowing to a smiling Kim Dae-jung. Headlines announced: "Surveillance of Politicians by ANSP to be Discontinued."
The change is symptomatic of the process of democratization currently under way in South Korea. Momentum for change in the country's political culture has been gathering for years. Ancient Confucian attitudes, aggravated by years of military-backed dictatorship have been worn down by the ideas of freedom and individualism, riding on the back of rapid industrialization and economic growth.
The call and answer
The political voice of the burgeoning middle class was heard for the first time last June, when three weeks of popular protests led the country's then-ruler, Chun Doo-hwan, to agree to free elections to choose the next president. The people responded by electing Roh Tae-woo, Chun's handpicked successor.
Incredulous oppositionists charged the election returns had been computer-rigged (with software provided by U.S. political consultants). But most of their supporters blamed Kim and rival candidate Kim Young-sam for splitting the opposition, and accepted the result. Cynics recalled the joke that, to Koreans, democracy means "the right to choose your own dictator."
But Roh turned out to be far less dictatorial than anticipated. Changes in style--Roh instructed aides not to use the usual honorifics in referring to him and insisted on carrying his own briefcase--were followed by reforms. The government allowed new newspapers to start, freed a number of political prisoners, and promised other reforms, including curbs on the country's hated intelligence
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