A look at Kim Jong-pil’s unprecedented journey

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A look at Kim Jong-pil’s unprecedented journey

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Kim Jong-pil’s testimony describing what he saw and accomplished during his more than 40 years in Korea’s political landscape is documented on official record.

But in a series of interviews with the JoongAng Ilbo, conducted from October 2014 to November 2015, the former two-time prime minister shed new light on those facts, putting historically relevant events in a new frame.

So to illuminate the highlights of Kim’s journey, the newspaper has selected the top 10 events that defined his legacy and career.

BY CHUN YOUNG-GI, KANG JIN-KYU [kang.jinkyu@joongang.co.kr]

1. The anti-Communist pledge by the revolutionary forces
Kim revealed that he prioritized an anti-Communist position in the official platform of the revolutionary forces to ease suspicions over Park Chung Hee’s ideological stance. In the last provision of the statement, written by Park, it read that the revolutionary forces would return to the military once their mission was over. Kim, however, said he never believed that.


2. The arrest of Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-young

“Park wasn’t very passionate about winning power after the May 16 revolution [coup],” Kim recalled. “He often said he would give it all away and return to the military.” Yet, just two months after the overthrow, Kim swiftly arrested former Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-young in order to cement Park’s grip on the military forces. “Park was taken aback when I briefed him about the arrest,” he said. Kim added that he decided to oust Chang because he had tried to form his own rival group, which paved the way for Park’s ascent to power.




3. Hwang Tae-song was a spy sent by Kim Il Sung.

Hwang Tae-song, the vice minister of the North Korean Trade Ministry, was arrested by the South Korean intelligence agency after he was dispatched to the country in late August 1961. Hwang was a childhood friend of his father-in-law, who died years earlier in 1946, Kim said. When he was young, Hwang knew Park Chung Hee very well, too, and Park often referred to him as “big brother.” At the behest of the United States, Hwang’s custody was transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency. But after Park was elected president, his custody was again returned to Korea’s jurisdiction. Hwang was executed on Dec. 14, 1963, on charges of espionage.


4. The Kim-Ohira Memo was the size of a man’s palm.
On Nov. 12, 1962, Kim Jong-pil and Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira met secretly to determine the amount of financial reparations Korea would receive from Japan, a deal referred to as the Kim-Ohira Memo. In 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul disclosed what it claimed was the original Kim-Ohira memo, written on A4-size paper. However, Kim refuted the announcement, stating that the memo was written on paper the size of a man’s palm and contained Korean and Chinese characters. The whereabouts of the Kim-Ohira Memo remains a mystery.

5. The rumors regarding Kim’s proposal to bomb Dokdo islets
Kim’s critics have claimed that he at one point proposed to Ohira that Tokyo could bomb the Dokdo islets if the matter of its sovereignty got in the way of reaching a deal on compensation for Japan’s colonial rule over the peninsula. However, Kim denies that charge.


6. Park sought Syngman Rhee’s return to Korea.
President Syngman Rhee stayed in Hawaii after he was thrown from power. It has been said that Park objected to Rhee’s return to Korea. But according to Kim, Park ordered him in November 1962 to fly to Hawaii and give Rhee $20,000 in assistance. “As I handed the money to Rhee’s wife, Francesca, tears rolled down her face,” Kim said, adding that Rhee’s ailing health prevented him from returning.


8. Kim Dae-jung’s abduction was a plot by the KCIA.
Kim Dae-jung was abducted from his hotel in Tokyo in August 1973 in a scheme planned by Lee Hu-rak, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, now the National Intelligence Service.

According to Kim Jong-pil, the abduction was planned and carried out by Lee alone. Park Chung Hee, he added, had no prior knowledge of the situation.

He recalled Park’s outrage at finding out that Kim Dae-jung had been abducted.

“How could he do such a thing without telling me?” Kim Jong-pil quoted Park as saying.



7. Kim described Kim Jae-gyu as a “paranoid maniac.”
Kim Jae-gyu, who fatally shot Park Chung Hee on the evening of Oct. 26, 1979, claimed he pulled the trigger for the sake of democracy in Korea. However, Kim Jong-pil painted the president’s assassin as a “paranoid maniac” whose actions were spurred by his disgruntlement over the fact that he had lost in his struggle for power against Cha Ji-cheol, presidential security chief. Kim Jong-pil recalled that in February 1978, Kim Jae-gyu had told him that the intelligence agency would pour all of its resources into making sure that Park kept his power indefinitely. “It didn’t make sense for Kim, who had called for keeping Park in power indefinitely, to claim he was ensuring democracy for the country,” he said.


9. The recommendation of Cha Ji-cheol by the first lady
On Aug. 15, 1974, first lady Yook Young-soo was killed by Japanese-Korean Moon Se-gwang, a North Korean sympathizer. It had been initially planned that ruling party lawmaker Oh Jeong-geon would take over as presidential security chief. But that decision changed overnight, and Cha Ji-cheol was tapped instead.

“First lady Yook Young-soo had often suggested that her husband appoint Cha as head of the presidential security team, citing his values: He was a devout Christian and did not drink or smoke.

“Park must have taken his late wife’s advice to heart. He appointed Cha, believing it was a prudent move, but the outcome turned out to be just the opposite.”



10. The Presidential Library and Museum for Park Chung Hee
Kim Dae-jung’s victory in the 1997 presidential election would not have been possible had it not been for his alliance with Kim Jong-pil. While Kim Dae-jung was a symbol of the country’s democracy movement, Kim Jong-pil represented Korea’s industrialization.

It was a partnership forged by two old foes.

“Two months before the election, Kim Dae-jung visited my home. I told him I would make up for all the suffering he had endured during the Park Chung Hee era by helping him win the presidency,” Kim Jong-pil said.

His decision to help Kim Dae-jung in 1997, he said, was one of his proudest political achievements. Kim Jong-pil requested in return that Kim Dae-jung build a memorial hall for Park Chung Hee - a promise the president kept. The Kim government earmarked 20 billion won to build the hall. However, his successor, President Roh Moo-hyun, delayed its construction.

More than a decade later, the official presidential library and museum for Park Chung Hee opened in 2012.

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