From: btlee@emx.cc.utexas.edu (Byungtae Lee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re:Political Prisoners
Date: 31 Dec 92 15:12:49 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas

From: shin-jungshik@yale.edu (Jungshik Shin) writes:

Instead responding specific cases without complete information, I'd like to
it clear regarding "Political Prisoners(PP)" issues. I hope I do not leave
any confusion to netters.

1. The definition and issues in PP.

   I agree the generaly accepted concept of PP is that prisoners are those who
   are jailed by their political motivation or beliefs.

   The issue I raised was not the definition of PP, but the question whether
   they have the same moral justification as they used to be before 1987.

   My logic are as follows:
   If laws were become effective though legitimate means, and if
   judiciary system have its own indepedence from dictatorship and so prisoners
   were jailed by the proper trial, PP do not have the moral superiority as 
   they did. 

   This judgement can not be done by either government selective enforcement
   or personal definition what basic human rights should be because individual
   potilitical view can be beyond constitutoin or state quo potitical structure
    but government cann't.


2. Whether law is bad or not, outdated or not?
    
    This judgement are very subjective. The reason why I challenged to netters
    who are saying that Korean labor laws and the assembly and demonstrations 
    are bad or not perfect is that those laws were written by democratically
    elected congress and moreover, opposition outnumbered congress and 
    in addition, for me, those laws are very similar to those of advanced
    western countries. In fact, mono-union rule for one workplace, the third 
    the third party intervention,  notice or
    permission for demonstration and many other issues were the result of hot
    debates and compromises.  Thus law should be judged by whether we have 
    legitimate legisitration perocess and free judiciary system.
  
3.  The reason why I raised this question

    For me, building the respect to laws is as much important as the more
    progressive or more free society is because I feel that there have not been
    proper repect to laws. I think we can not blame government for violating
    some laws while we are violating many laws.
    
4.  Government vs. Radical (or progressive) forces

    Why has Korean government changed its law enforcement time to time?
    I think it was partially progressive force's fault. They provided the justification of government's or court's backlash. 
        
5.  Some minor facts I do not agree with Mr. Shin

    1. Teachers' union got majority support:
   

6. My question for Mr.J.S Shin
   a.  
 You said:  Please, don't diffuse issues with unnecessary juridical details
            though it may be what we disagree on most.  
   Q:Do you think I diffuse issues by this? I said this one asked me how
     I can explain government's not punishing Chung, Joo Young.
   
 You said:
      However, I would like you to be more consistent
      in your postings because I cannot but feel that your attitude 
      is different depeding on whose articles you're following-up. 
   
   Q: WHAT WASN'T I CONSISTENT?  WHICH MY ATTITUDE WAS DIFFERENT DPENDING
      THE AUTHOR?  Especially in this thread of yours, I was confused who's
      who and which was when. 

***
7. The reasons why I beg netters not name my political attitude
   
   a. Whoever labels somebody as a "far-extremist", I think he/she hates
      the other party's opinion. Why do I have to discuss my opinion with
       who hates me?  Especially far-exteremist contains pretty much disgrace.
      It went for Nazzis, KKK's......in the history.

   b. I do not think those who attack other's personal preferences are not 
      qualified to be intellictual or to be democratic citizen.
      It also definitely contradict to the defintion of "liberal" or 
      "progressive". I call them fundamentalist or terrorist. 

Byungtae Lee