Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Footnotes to this overheated thread
From: sl26@ellis.uchicago.edu (sangjin  lee)
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 17:38:57 GMT
Reply-To: sl26@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Department of Physics, University of Chicago

Feeling somewhat sorry to make a calm net into an emotional battlefield,
I'd like to add to a couple of points to this issue. Also, I hope I could
withdraw from this thread.

(1) Regionalism, Regional Emotion:

I agree in most part with Mr. B.T. Lee that the Korean politics got based
on regions rather than platforms (or ideologies if you will), and most of
all, DJ actually enjoyed the undisputed support from Honam.

However, I'd like to point out that comparing the emotion of Honam people
and that of Yongnam people on the same footing is a bit misleading. We
can't simply say that a candidate got support from this region, another
candidate from that region, so this damned regional basis should be brought
down.
In case of our country, we must never forget that the Honam people have
been discriminated for a long time. That makes the situation somewhat
peculiar. If they have prejudiced favor for DJ, that's rather symbolic.
It's beyond the simple idea of making the president from our province. They
have been finding a hope from DJ. That's why they so solidly support DJ.

I'm not saying that's healthy. What I want to say is that while this might
be unhealthy, I can understand them.

On the contrary, the emotion of Yongnam people is rather counter-act. They
don't have any depressing history of discrimination. Rather, they enjoyed
being a favored province under the 3rd, and the 5th Republics. But they do
hate Honam people. They virtually regard Honam people as 2nd-rated
citizens. Sadly enough, that's majority opinion in Yongnam. I don't have to
prove this. You guys know this much better than I do.
So they won't allow DJ being elected to the President. That's real dirty
regional emotion.

( For the record, I'm from Taegu, Yongnam. )

Although I don't want to bring it again, The Kwangju Massacre is the single
most important incident to solidify this desperate support for DJ. While
the discrimination against them under Mr. Park's government was structural,
slow on-going process, that incident stands out as a vivid example to put
Honam people into the oppressed. It's just twelve years ago.
One of the most prominent propaganda by the Mr. Roh's government is to
blame such an irresistable emotion as a deplorable dirty prejudice, and it
worked a bit.
I would find a parallel from the history of black in the U.S. Even though
it's not a perfect match, we can find certain similarities. We don't call
the effort of the unity of the oppressed people simply an emotion.

(2) Independence of the Judiciary System in Korea:

I have lots of doubts about this issue. While the judiciary system was
totally subject to the government during te 3rd republic, it was set
relatively free(?) during the 6th republic.
But the improvement of the procedures doesn't necessarily mean real
independence of the judiciary system. I've encountered many examples
throughout the 6th republic, though I can't recall specific incidents now.
But I do recall outrage I had when I heard them. Information is needed.

As far as I know, many laws at issue were passed AFTER the merge. When the
three parties merged, the laws were on the negotiation tables. After the
merge, DLP could pass the laws basically according to their original
blueprint because they became the majority in the National Assembly.

Even after they gained the majority in the National Assembly, they did
so-called abrupt passes as they had done before.(Nal-chi-gi tong-gwa) Our
country has a world record. On July 11, DLP passed the laws about mass
media in 30 seconds. Three days later, they passed Laws on the Structure of
the Korean Army, and the Law on the Reimbursement for the Kwangju Massacre




Why do they do these? They negotiate laws on the table with the opposition
parties, but don't give up a single point. When they decide they can't pull
out the consensus of the opposition party. They dash to pass using the
majority position.
Basically all of the so-called reformed laws were passed by this
process.(by Nal-chi-gi or in the absense of the opposition legislatives)
All of the bad laws questioned at that time were changed very slightly at
the same time they acquired the legitimacy.

So, the point is that the legitimacy was given (only) because DLP occupied
the majority in the National Assembly. In turn, it was achieved by the
Grand Merge. 
I leave it as a big question mark.