[Column] Looking the past straight in the eye

Han Jeong-suk, Seoul National University Professor of Western History

Augusto Pinochet is dead. He never once took responsibility for overthrowing the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973 and then ruling for 17 years using killings, torture, and other horrific atrocities. Upon hearing of his death, many Chilean citizens took a critical look back on his time in power, but others put on public displays of mourning. They were able to do so because there was never a clear examination of his crimes and he was never adequately judged by society.

In contrast to this, unified Germany disclosed all documents relating to human rights abuses by East Germany's state security bureau, the Stasi. After unification, authorities found a massive pile of documentation showing that the Stasi had deeply penetrated the daily lives of East German citizens. It used threats and coercion to make citizens spy on their neighbors, and once German society as a whole learned of that fact, it was left in shock and became caught up in debate about what to do with all the documents. After a long and intense debate, it was decided everything would be made public and anyone who wanted to see his "file" would be allowed to do so. The fact that Germany has faced up to the East German past in addition to its Nazi years shows you that it is a society that knows how to look at its past. The question of whether violence perpetrated by the state is going to be disclosed and be treated as something that is to be overcome, whether that effort is going to be left for later, or whether the past is going to be covered up forever is entirely a question of a society's capabilities.

Korea, too, has piles of documents about crimes committed by the state and its organs. They document how organizations came up with the basis for illegal surveillance, detention, house arrest, and torture, as well as how those actions were carried out and what the results were. Even more of a problem is that many of the documents that resulted form illegal surveillance and investigations contain private information. These are "X-Files" about things we could never imagine.

What should we do with these documents? We need to discuss the many problems they bring. Should they be handed over to the National Archives and Records Service? Should they be kept by a separate research body created for that purpose? Should they be revealed for everyone to see? Should we just disclose a few of the more representative cases and then destroy the rest? If they're made public, how much about people's private lives should be kept protected?

In Korea today, you hear people opposing even the effort to figure out what took place in the recent past, people who want to prevent this reflection from moving forward. Having a society look back on its past is necessary for it to be able to apologize in the name of the state. It is a way for people made to shed tears because of wrongful oppression and illegal actions by state agencies, and for the whole of society - which tolerated this illegality - to comfort them. Given these cathartic effects, is there anything to lose in this kind of reflection?

Most of the people who got sent to the Samcheong Gyoyuk Dae military 're-education' facility in 1980 were innocent according to the law at the time. They either had previous crime convictions, did not get along with those around them, or were wearing shabby clothing when they were out drinking and on their way home when picked up by roving teams of 'law enforcement' authorities. Close to 40,000 men were sent to this brutally harsh camp. Of those, approximately 50 died, thousands were seriously injured, and many still suffer from serious psychological aftereffects. A considerable number never reported themselves to the government as victims, fearful of society's negative prejudices.

If a someone in a position of responsibility - such as a president, prime minister, or defense minister - were to officially acknowledge that such violence perpetrated by the state was illegal and to apologize, it would allow victims to find the means for healing, and could lead to the resolution of remaining unanswered questions. It would also be an opportunity for our society to engage in some introspection about the collective human rights abuses that took place in recent history. A society can grow to a higher level when it looks back at its mistakes. Looking the past straight in the face is something for the present, and something for the future.

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