Still Living with Park Chung-hee 50 Years After May 16 Coup
이 글자크기로 변경됩니다.
(예시) 가장 빠른 뉴스가 있고 다양한 정보, 쌍방향 소통이 숨쉬는 다음뉴스를 만나보세요. 다음뉴스는 국내외 주요이슈와 실시간 속보, 문화생활 및 다양한 분야의 뉴스를 입체적으로 전달하고 있습니다.
50 years ago today, at 3pm on May 16, 1961, a group of armed mutineers led by Major General Park Chung-hee crossed the Hangang River. This was one year and one month after the Second Republic was founded following the collapse of the Rhee Syngman dictatorship due to the April 19 Revolution.Soldiers, who should protect the lives and security of the citizens and protect the government, pointed their guns at the government and took state power. The power seized by force-of-arms by Park, who led this military revolt, continued for 18 years, until he was shot dead by one of his underlings at a drinking party in Gungjeong-dong where two women were serving liquor.In fact, when we consider Gen. Chun Doo-hwan's coup of Dec 12, 1979 and Gen. Roh Tae-woo's extension of the regime, we can say the period of military rule continued for 32 years. In this way, we were met with a dark age of military dictatorship at the most important period in Korea's modern history. This is why the May 16 coup will not end with reminiscences just because it took place 50 years ago.After the coup, the Park administration expanded coercive bodies and took away civil rights, controlled labor and engaged in repression contrary to human rights. As a result, Park created a nation with the world's lowest wages, longest work hours and biggest industrial disasters. In short, he created windfall profits by squeezing laborers through violence, and with these he fattened up the powerful and the jaebeol.We are not yet free from this legacy. The jaebeol still own Korean society, and the rights of laborers are being violated as always while there is no improvement in the phenomenon of the rich growing richer and the poor poorer.Anti-communism and the politics of conservative dominance continue. In Korea's industrialization, brought about in this way with the blood, sweat and tears of laborers and the people, lingers the smell of blood.Yet the strange logic that the May 16 coup brought Koreans prosperity and happiness is spreading like an epidemic. The movement to revere as idols of this era the Rhee Syngman administration, which ruined Korea's fresh start, and the Park Chung-hee dictatorship, which constituted massive violence itself, is growing.In this regard, it could be said we are still living in the "post-Park Chung-hee" era, unable to free ourselves of Park's legacy. That the CEO who grew a construction company during the Park era, when collusion between the government and business was commonplace, became president and is hanging the fate of his administration on the Four Rivers civil engineering project is clear evidence of the "post-Park Chung-hee era."Another reality is that the daughter of the man who played the key role in the coup is being discussed as a strong contender to become the next president not through reflection on her father's era but by assuming the title of her father's successor. In this way, we face a historic betrayal.We cannot blame only the forces of vested interests for the fact that Korea today remains in the post-Park Chung-hee era, however. This is because the forces opposing vested interests, too, are no different in that they cannot move past Park.We cannot escape the legacy of Park Chung-hee while reform and progressive forces fail to move beyond criticizing Park to present alternative models. In order to wake those with an anachronistic nostalgia for the Park era and advance us towards a mature and healthy society, they must present a vision through alternatives that can be realized.A welfare state that respects the value of labor may become a good alternative. We hope that Park will no longer be called from the grave in the future. (Editorial, The Kyunghyang Daily News. May 16, 2011)
경향신문 '오늘의 핫뉴스'
▶ '다시 뽑고싶은 대통령' 2위 노무현…꼴찌는?
▶ 서울동물원 '고리롱' 인공수정 무산…'무정자증'이었네
▶ "日, 국제공인 지도 통해 대마도 조선땅 인정"
▶ 불륜에 빠진 친구 협박해 돈 뜯은 '흔들린 우정'
▶ 아사다 마오, 열애… 상대는
▶ ESPN '추신수 망신얼굴' 공개…술 덜깨 초췌
공식 SNS 계정 [경향 트위터][미투데이][페이스북][세상과 경향의 소통 Khross]- ⓒ 경향신문 & 경향닷컴(www.khan.co.kr), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지〈경향닷컴은 한국온라인신문협회(www.kona.or.kr)의 디지털뉴스이용규칙에 따른 저작권을 행사합니다.〉
Copyright © 경향신문. 무단전재 및 재배포 금지.
- 70대 몰던 SUV, 주차장 나오자마자 건물로 돌진…운전자 ‘급발진’ 주장
- 국민의힘이 파악한 ‘이탈표 4표’의 정체는···안철수+3명의 실수?
- 대한민국을 북한이라 한 파리올림픽···바흐 IOC 위원장 “대통령에 직접 사과하겠다”
- 이진숙, ‘위안부 강제동원’에 “논쟁적 사안”이라고 답했다 취소
- KBS, 기자 노트북에 있던 ‘세월호 리본’ 모자이크 처리
- ‘내전’ 국민의힘, 부산 기초의원 9명 제명·탈당 등 조치…‘반란표’ 중징계
- 김진표 전 의장, “윤 대통령, 이태원참사 조작가능성 언급” 회고록 수정
- 함께 술 먹고 조수석 탑승한 친구 협박해 돈 뜯어낸 공무원
- 목표는 ‘공영방송 이사 선임’…거센 반발에도 ‘2인 방통위’ 벼르는 정부
- [속보] 뜸 들이던 오바마, 해리스 지지 선언···“승리 위해 모든 것 할 것”