Tragic year for former Korean Presidents : today, pneumonia eventually claimed KIM Dae-jung (1998-2003) a few months after his successor ROH Moo-hyun (2003-2008) committed suicide*.
Korea's first Nobel laureate had been treated for over one month at the Severance Hospital, and when his fate seemed sealed, all former foes paid him a visit to "make peace" with a man whose disparition was bound to spark a new wave of criticisms on their own past.
Most notable stars of this strange "Sunshine Policy", 3 presidents : CHUN Doo-hwan has already been judged, KIM Young-sam still struggles to balance his own legacy, but LEE Myung-bak is about present time, history in the making.
And KIM Dae-jung was particularly vocal against him. Actually, his very last public breaths were to denounce repeated attacks on democracy, particularly following the disparition of ROH Moo-hyun (see "A Yellow Sea for Roh Moo-hyun" - also on blogules).
At least for the weeks to come, KIM Dae-jung shall stand as an embarrassing "Commander Statue" for a Don Juan already struggling to reconquer public opinion.
* See "Roh Moo-hyun follows Pierre Beregovoy" (also on blogules and blogules VF).
blogules 2009
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initially published on Seoul Village.
Showing posts with label Roh Moo-hyun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roh Moo-hyun. Show all posts
20090530
A Yellow Sea For Roh
Downtown submerged by a tsunami of yellow ribbons, arm bands, hair pins, hats, and balloons.
Not at the Gyeongbokgung today : the color of Roh Moo-hyun's campaigns was strictly forbidden at the site of the official ceremony.
Also forbidden : Kim Dae-jung's eulogy for his successor. This request from the family was turned down by his successor's successor... a measure of respect to other former Presidents according to Lee Myung-bak, a setback for democracy according to the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Also forbidden : Seoul Plaza, closed to mourners until today, for fear of a remake of last year's massive demonstrations. Roh sympathizers improvised the first altar just across the street, in front of Deoksugung's gate, the very morning when he died*. Local and foreign V.I.P.s waited for a more exclusive altar to be opened, a few days later, at the Seoul Museum of History. Both sites felt silent, but one did sound a little more sincere than the other.
Above, the head of the convoy on Sejongno, as it leaves Gyeongbokgung for Seoul Plaza and Roh Moo-hyun's Yellow Sea of supporters.
Right, Roh's collaborators, following the deceased and singing the song that cemented their cause for democracy.
* See "Roh Moo-hyun follows Pierre Beregovoy".
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initially published on SeoulVillage.
20090523
Roh Moo-hyun follows Pierre Beregovoy
When I read this morning about the tragic fate of former President Roh Moo-hyun, I thought about Pierre Beregovoy, Francois Mitterrand's last prime minister who supposedly committed suicide while under investigation for corruption.
Suicide or not suicide, this not the issue here. Both Beregovoy and Roh came from modest backgrounds, succeeded in politics as outsiders, and ended up in a tragic fate, soon after leaving the top, their main asset, the positive image on which they built their successes, shattered to pieces.
This morning, I made this stupid dream* that Roh's final bow could wake up Korea, help it reconsider politics, put down the guns, and start a vast operation of transparence. To help talents truly motivated by change emerge from the crowd, but also to protect them as they climb to the top of this beautiful yet slippery mountain.
* see the blogule : "Roh Moo-hyun, le promeneur du champ de mai"
Suicide or not suicide, this not the issue here. Both Beregovoy and Roh came from modest backgrounds, succeeded in politics as outsiders, and ended up in a tragic fate, soon after leaving the top, their main asset, the positive image on which they built their successes, shattered to pieces.
This morning, I made this stupid dream* that Roh's final bow could wake up Korea, help it reconsider politics, put down the guns, and start a vast operation of transparence. To help talents truly motivated by change emerge from the crowd, but also to protect them as they climb to the top of this beautiful yet slippery mountain.
* see the blogule : "Roh Moo-hyun, le promeneur du champ de mai"
20070430
Red blogule to Kim Seung-youn - bar vs bar at a bar
The Hanwha conglomerate owns a baseball club, but his owner Kim Seung-youn decided to use a metal bar to punish by himself four youngsters who dared fight with his son in a downtown Seoul night club.
Mr Kim came along with an impressive roster of 17 bodyguards armed with guns and knives, picking up his victims as if he were shopping at a mall. After he was done with them, he asked his sluggers to finish the job, which mercifully didn't involve any killing.
The videotape proving the razzia miraculously disappeared, but the victims and numerous witnesses are talking.
Money used to solve everything for Korea's biggest chaebols, but executive, judicial, and media powers are claiming more and more often their independence. Besides, Korean netizens are making sure nobody is untouchable, even when the law cannot prove nor do anything.
This disgraceful incident is both a blessing for Roh Moo-hyun in his crusade against the most deviant of Chaebol Allmighties*, and good news for Korean democracy : in the end the power belongs to the people.
As for the power hitter called Kim Seung-youn, his high batting average will give some fish to fry to his defense, and he may end up managing his anger in a prison's baseball team.
* not to mention his crusade against lameduckhood...
Mr Kim came along with an impressive roster of 17 bodyguards armed with guns and knives, picking up his victims as if he were shopping at a mall. After he was done with them, he asked his sluggers to finish the job, which mercifully didn't involve any killing.
The videotape proving the razzia miraculously disappeared, but the victims and numerous witnesses are talking.
Money used to solve everything for Korea's biggest chaebols, but executive, judicial, and media powers are claiming more and more often their independence. Besides, Korean netizens are making sure nobody is untouchable, even when the law cannot prove nor do anything.
This disgraceful incident is both a blessing for Roh Moo-hyun in his crusade against the most deviant of Chaebol Allmighties*, and good news for Korean democracy : in the end the power belongs to the people.
As for the power hitter called Kim Seung-youn, his high batting average will give some fish to fry to his defense, and he may end up managing his anger in a prison's baseball team.
* not to mention his crusade against lameduckhood...
20070103
White blogule to OH Se-hoon - swift boats across the Hangang
LEE Myung-bak may or may not become South Korea's next president. Like Sarkozy, he could be leading in the polls too clearly too early. Actually, the man who changed the face of the Capital city (Bus Rapid Transit system, restored Cheonggyecheon, Seoul Sup...) always seems in a hurry and doesn't like to waste time. For a start, he never took the time to change his own face. Plus he was twice convicted for starting an election campaign too early.
But swiftness is certainly not a handicap in Korea. After all, LEE's predecessor did become Korea's head of state in a hurry : GOH Gun assumed ROH Moo-hyun's interim during his short 2004 impeachment transition.
Still, LEE's successor could very well become the "next-former-mayor-of-Seoul president". It's just that 2007 looks a little bit too early for OH Se-hoon, who isn't even of the "former" kind since he only took the mayoral charge last summer. At least, this good looking politician won't have to change his face to seduce the voters.
Yesterday, OH decided to stop the pre-electoral stalemate on real estate issues, the most important topic in a country that doesn't seem to realize North Korea is about to collapse in a meltdown if not nuclear, at least economically ten times more destructive than Albania's*.
Anyway... ROH Moo-hyun's Government cannot go as far as it would like against real estate speculation because the opposition doesn't want it to succeed before this year's elections... the said opposition including many members of the "ruling" Uri party. OH Se-hoon is a member of the Grand National Party but wants to be remembered as a man who reaches for the good of the majority : he didn't wait for national guidelines to set tougher rules on new developments. A small move but a wise and a timely one.
Nowadays, some short sighted Gangnam investors see LEE Myung-bak as their only hope of postponing the inevitable burst of Seoul's real estate bubble. The wisest and swiftest among them are becoming OH Se-hoon's best supporters... with the hope of making in Gangbuk for their future losses in Gangnam : they have already moved their assets north of the Han river, flocking to such areas as Nowon-gu like rats before the shipwreck.
* once again : instead of benchmarking Germany for their reunification scenarios, Koreans would be inspired to remember what happened to Albania after the collapse of Enver Hoxha's regime.
But swiftness is certainly not a handicap in Korea. After all, LEE's predecessor did become Korea's head of state in a hurry : GOH Gun assumed ROH Moo-hyun's interim during his short 2004 impeachment transition.
Still, LEE's successor could very well become the "next-former-mayor-of-Seoul president". It's just that 2007 looks a little bit too early for OH Se-hoon, who isn't even of the "former" kind since he only took the mayoral charge last summer. At least, this good looking politician won't have to change his face to seduce the voters.
Yesterday, OH decided to stop the pre-electoral stalemate on real estate issues, the most important topic in a country that doesn't seem to realize North Korea is about to collapse in a meltdown if not nuclear, at least economically ten times more destructive than Albania's*.
Anyway... ROH Moo-hyun's Government cannot go as far as it would like against real estate speculation because the opposition doesn't want it to succeed before this year's elections... the said opposition including many members of the "ruling" Uri party. OH Se-hoon is a member of the Grand National Party but wants to be remembered as a man who reaches for the good of the majority : he didn't wait for national guidelines to set tougher rules on new developments. A small move but a wise and a timely one.
Nowadays, some short sighted Gangnam investors see LEE Myung-bak as their only hope of postponing the inevitable burst of Seoul's real estate bubble. The wisest and swiftest among them are becoming OH Se-hoon's best supporters... with the hope of making in Gangbuk for their future losses in Gangnam : they have already moved their assets north of the Han river, flocking to such areas as Nowon-gu like rats before the shipwreck.
* once again : instead of benchmarking Germany for their reunification scenarios, Koreans would be inspired to remember what happened to Albania after the collapse of Enver Hoxha's regime.
20061019
White blogule to Roh Moo-hyun - protecting Korea from the US
The Bush Administration has been working on a violent collapse of Kim Jong-il's regime for years. Bush even refused proposals by Pyongyang dovishest hawks to make peace and step by step becoming a strategic ally in the region. Former Ambassador Christopher R. Hill hasn't stopped putting oil on fire since North Korea's first nuclear test. For the White House, any diversion could help before November 7 mid-term elections.
So Roh Moo-hyun decided to protect the peninsula from this bilateral dead-end and announced the subject a purely intra-korean matter right before Condi Rice's visit in Seoul, without warning his closest advisors - especially those working on the Secretary of State's agenda.
Roh politely removes the US, Japan, Russia and China from the landscape, but also the UN, even if all voted resolutions will carefully be respected. Korean medias criticize the way secretary general elect Ban Ki-moon is cast away by his own Government the very week of his election at the head of the United Nations Organization, but this could prove to be a very smart way of helping Ban prove his independence from his country.
In the short term, I cannot see what can prevent NK from setting another nuclear test. In the medium term, Kim's regime will not survive. In a not so far future, Korea will face yet another nuclear neighbor : remilitarized Japan.
Right now, South should meet with North with the blessing of Beijing. For the time being, the 6-party talks should at least officially shrink to a 2-party-plus talks. Just to remind what's at stake if Korea as a whole collapses.
So Roh Moo-hyun decided to protect the peninsula from this bilateral dead-end and announced the subject a purely intra-korean matter right before Condi Rice's visit in Seoul, without warning his closest advisors - especially those working on the Secretary of State's agenda.
Roh politely removes the US, Japan, Russia and China from the landscape, but also the UN, even if all voted resolutions will carefully be respected. Korean medias criticize the way secretary general elect Ban Ki-moon is cast away by his own Government the very week of his election at the head of the United Nations Organization, but this could prove to be a very smart way of helping Ban prove his independence from his country.
In the short term, I cannot see what can prevent NK from setting another nuclear test. In the medium term, Kim's regime will not survive. In a not so far future, Korea will face yet another nuclear neighbor : remilitarized Japan.
Right now, South should meet with North with the blessing of Beijing. For the time being, the 6-party talks should at least officially shrink to a 2-party-plus talks. Just to remind what's at stake if Korea as a whole collapses.
20060517
Red blogule to Korea's hubs - meanwhile, in China...
While Busan, Incheon and several Seoul areas compete to become Asia's next hub, China plays "baduk" at a much larger level in order to host the future center of Korea.
Claiming Korea's cultural heritage is not enough. Even if their army of revisionist historians don't succeed in putting Koguryo on the Map of China, Beijing's strategic planners will use their multitudes to build a Great Wall of Korea on Chinese soil.
This future "Korean triangle" is meant to become even more powerful than Shanghai. The bay around Dalian being safe from freezing winters, it can compete with both Incheon and Busan and become the ideal spot for the future Eurasian railways terminals - no need to bother completing these silly inter-korean lines boys, we're taking care of everything from Motherland. Look, the "Bay of Korea" bathes our shores, we're not like those naughty Japanese imperialists who renamed the Sea of Korea "Sea of Japan" or worse, called Dokdo "Takeshima" as a tribute to their colonial craft (they say "bamboo island" comes from the shapes of the rocks but we all know how bamboo grows : Takeshima doesn't describe this dust on the sea but celebrates the first implantation of the Empire on a foreign soil).
China's building the ideal home for Koreans, leveraging on its strong local ethnic minority and intending to lure natives from the Korean Peninsula : either from the North (escaping from Hell), or from the South (escaping from a country with the World's lowest fertility rate, an insane education system and fewer opportunities in general) in a XXIst Century wild West gold rush (by the way, while we're at it, why not have some drafting sessions in LA's Koreatown as well ?). Thats a serious threat for a country whose most valuable assets are intangible or related to the very character of its population.
To make it even worse, the recent politico-military deal clinched between Japan and the US further precipitates Seoul in the welcoming arms of Beijing. And Korea can't find much disinterested support from its other giant neighbor Russia. Kofi Annan won't be of much help to Roh Moo-hyun for a better respect of fair play in the region. Korea needs to federate other Asian nations worried about China's and Japan's neo-imperialism, become a herald of cultural, economical and political diversity in the region... without angering Beijing too much because it can't afford it.
Korea can become a hub after all. But only if its major cities play as a team instead of competing with each other.
Claiming Korea's cultural heritage is not enough. Even if their army of revisionist historians don't succeed in putting Koguryo on the Map of China, Beijing's strategic planners will use their multitudes to build a Great Wall of Korea on Chinese soil.
This future "Korean triangle" is meant to become even more powerful than Shanghai. The bay around Dalian being safe from freezing winters, it can compete with both Incheon and Busan and become the ideal spot for the future Eurasian railways terminals - no need to bother completing these silly inter-korean lines boys, we're taking care of everything from Motherland. Look, the "Bay of Korea" bathes our shores, we're not like those naughty Japanese imperialists who renamed the Sea of Korea "Sea of Japan" or worse, called Dokdo "Takeshima" as a tribute to their colonial craft (they say "bamboo island" comes from the shapes of the rocks but we all know how bamboo grows : Takeshima doesn't describe this dust on the sea but celebrates the first implantation of the Empire on a foreign soil).
China's building the ideal home for Koreans, leveraging on its strong local ethnic minority and intending to lure natives from the Korean Peninsula : either from the North (escaping from Hell), or from the South (escaping from a country with the World's lowest fertility rate, an insane education system and fewer opportunities in general) in a XXIst Century wild West gold rush (by the way, while we're at it, why not have some drafting sessions in LA's Koreatown as well ?). Thats a serious threat for a country whose most valuable assets are intangible or related to the very character of its population.
To make it even worse, the recent politico-military deal clinched between Japan and the US further precipitates Seoul in the welcoming arms of Beijing. And Korea can't find much disinterested support from its other giant neighbor Russia. Kofi Annan won't be of much help to Roh Moo-hyun for a better respect of fair play in the region. Korea needs to federate other Asian nations worried about China's and Japan's neo-imperialism, become a herald of cultural, economical and political diversity in the region... without angering Beijing too much because it can't afford it.
Korea can become a hub after all. But only if its major cities play as a team instead of competing with each other.
20060502
Red blogule to Japan's neofascists - forget Takeshima and Mandchukuo
On April 31st, Young People's Comrades black trucks would cruise Tokyo, with mock missiles on their rooftops and loudspeakers blasting calls for young warriors to join the neo-fascist organisation, a member of the far-far-right Zen-Ai Kaigi alliance.
"Japan Youth" ? I could only see septuagenarians in those trucks ; the kind who long for the Showa era (not for the late Hirohito's granddaddy image but for the early Hirohito's imperialist spree), their don Corleone faces as animated as that of Leonid Brezhnev on his last May the 1st.
Meanwhile, the site of the MOFA (Ministry Of Foreign Affairs)* maintains its utterly revisionist position regarding the Korean islets of Dokdo :
"(1) Based on historical facts and international law, it is apparent that Takeshima is an integral part of Japan's sovereign territory.
(2) The occupation of Takeshima by the Republic of Korea is an illegal occupation undertaken with absolutely no basis whatsoever in international law. Any measures taken with regard to Takeshima by the Republic of Korea based on such an illegal occupation have no legal justification."
Here are the actual historical facts :
1) Indeed, Dokdo happened to be Japanese in the past, but only during occupation periods, each time Japan would aggress its peaceful neighbor. If Japan claims Dokdo, it must also claim the whole Korean peninsula.
2) Following a long tradition of eradication of anything Korean, Japan renamed Dokdo "Takeshima" in 1905. Like all the names changed during the occupation period ended with WWII, it was turned back to its original name at the Korean independance. Note that the "Sea of Japan" was never renamed "Sea of Korea".
3) Significantly enough, Dokdo means "remote island" in Korean, which reflects the difficulty for this country to defend this couple of rocks far away from its shores.
4) Significantly enough, Takeshima means "bamboo island" in Japanese, which seems absurd considering the fact not much can grow on these rocky islets but piles of guano. On the other hand, the name makes perfect sense if you know how bamboo reproduces : by its very name, "Takeshima", perfectly symbolizes the first implantation of imperial Japan on Korean soil during the 1905 wave (Dokdo was the first piece of land conquerred).
President Noh Moo-hyun asked PM Junichiro Koizumi to take his responsibilies and demanded the issue to be settled for good. I would love Mr Koizumi to be totally transparent : either he ends this sick fascist revival or he pleases the country's neo-imperialist lobbies and claims back the full Empire.
I'm sure Beijing (another expert in revisionism) will appreciate when Tokyo demands the liberation of Mandchukuo...
"Japan Youth" ? I could only see septuagenarians in those trucks ; the kind who long for the Showa era (not for the late Hirohito's granddaddy image but for the early Hirohito's imperialist spree), their don Corleone faces as animated as that of Leonid Brezhnev on his last May the 1st.
Meanwhile, the site of the MOFA (Ministry Of Foreign Affairs)* maintains its utterly revisionist position regarding the Korean islets of Dokdo :
"(1) Based on historical facts and international law, it is apparent that Takeshima is an integral part of Japan's sovereign territory.
(2) The occupation of Takeshima by the Republic of Korea is an illegal occupation undertaken with absolutely no basis whatsoever in international law. Any measures taken with regard to Takeshima by the Republic of Korea based on such an illegal occupation have no legal justification."
Here are the actual historical facts :
1) Indeed, Dokdo happened to be Japanese in the past, but only during occupation periods, each time Japan would aggress its peaceful neighbor. If Japan claims Dokdo, it must also claim the whole Korean peninsula.
2) Following a long tradition of eradication of anything Korean, Japan renamed Dokdo "Takeshima" in 1905. Like all the names changed during the occupation period ended with WWII, it was turned back to its original name at the Korean independance. Note that the "Sea of Japan" was never renamed "Sea of Korea".
3) Significantly enough, Dokdo means "remote island" in Korean, which reflects the difficulty for this country to defend this couple of rocks far away from its shores.
4) Significantly enough, Takeshima means "bamboo island" in Japanese, which seems absurd considering the fact not much can grow on these rocky islets but piles of guano. On the other hand, the name makes perfect sense if you know how bamboo reproduces : by its very name, "Takeshima", perfectly symbolizes the first implantation of imperial Japan on Korean soil during the 1905 wave (Dokdo was the first piece of land conquerred).
President Noh Moo-hyun asked PM Junichiro Koizumi to take his responsibilies and demanded the issue to be settled for good. I would love Mr Koizumi to be totally transparent : either he ends this sick fascist revival or he pleases the country's neo-imperialist lobbies and claims back the full Empire.
I'm sure Beijing (another expert in revisionism) will appreciate when Tokyo demands the liberation of Mandchukuo...
20050611
White blogule to Park Chu-Young - take me to the ball, Park
As expected, Park Chu-Young and Park Ji-Sung led the Korean national soccer team to a qualification for the World Cup 2006. They even outscored another mediatic Park couple ; the former dictator Park Chung-Hee (strongly criticized in recently released books and movies) and his daughter Park Geun-Hye (now the successful ruler of the Grand National Party).
I wish Korean politicians were shining as brilliantly as the country's soccer players. Roh Moo-Hyun seems a fairly smart guy but he's been wasting opportunities with the same dedication as Jacques Chirac (whatever happened to the momentum following last year's failed impeachment / coup ?). Lee Myung-Bak, Seoul's Mayor and a former presidential favorite, is drowning in corruption scandals around his much acclaimed Cheonggyecheon project. The rest of the league looks like pre-Koizumi Japan's snake nest : conservative SIG representatives with dark blue suits.
Park Chu-Young will be 20 for Germany 2006, Park Ji-Sung was 21 during Korea-Japan 2002.
Bring us fresh blood in politics and, in order to motivate new candidates, get rid of this one-term-limit. The times of dictatorship are over in Korea. Let the new wave rule !
I wish Korean politicians were shining as brilliantly as the country's soccer players. Roh Moo-Hyun seems a fairly smart guy but he's been wasting opportunities with the same dedication as Jacques Chirac (whatever happened to the momentum following last year's failed impeachment / coup ?). Lee Myung-Bak, Seoul's Mayor and a former presidential favorite, is drowning in corruption scandals around his much acclaimed Cheonggyecheon project. The rest of the league looks like pre-Koizumi Japan's snake nest : conservative SIG representatives with dark blue suits.
Park Chu-Young will be 20 for Germany 2006, Park Ji-Sung was 21 during Korea-Japan 2002.
Bring us fresh blood in politics and, in order to motivate new candidates, get rid of this one-term-limit. The times of dictatorship are over in Korea. Let the new wave rule !
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