A dark memory of torture

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A dark memory of torture

Joo Jung-wan
 
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo. 
 
“The interrogation room was shrouded in darkness. Only four faint red lights flickered dimly in the corners of the ceiling. The first torture session began with my arms tightly bound by a rope hanging from the ceiling. They hoisted me into the air, swung me around and delivered a brutal beating with clubs.”
 
This haunting memory of a torture chamber at the Defense Security Command, the predecessor of the current Defense Counterintelligence Command, was recounted by the late Jung Kyu-woong, a former cultural editor and columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo. It occurred in May 1981, about four months after the Chun Doo Hwan government lifted martial law. At the time, JoongAng Ilbo was serializing a novel by author Han Su-san titled “The Street of Desire” (1981).
 
Agents took issue with certain expressions in the novel and detained the author, three JoongAng Ilbo journalists and two publishing editors, taking them to the notorious Seobinggo detention center. This came to be known as the “Han Su-san Defamation Case.” The detentions were illegal, conducted without warrants or informing the detainees of their right to legal counsel. The Defense Security Commander at the time was Roh Tae-woo, the second-in-command of the military junta.
 
Jung himself was among the victims of the torture. In his book, “The Beloved Landscapes of the Literary World in the 1980s,” he wrote, “Two soldiers joined in with wooden clubs. If I denied or refused to answer, they beat me mercilessly. Later, when I rolled up my pant legs, I saw they were entirely black and blue, with clotted blood everywhere.”
 
According to a 2007 report by the Ministry of Defense’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the expressions flagged by the Defense Security Command were trivial. One passage depicted a senior government official wearing a “provincial-looking hat” during a visit to a mining town and forgetting what residents had told him. Another satirized security guards dressed in uniforms reminiscent of traffic police, mocking the obsession with uniforms. The first passage was interpreted as mocking the baldness of a head of state, undermining the “passion and efforts of the president to build a righteous society.” The second was deemed an insult to military personnel, labeled as a subversive act in sympathy with North Korea, and earned the accused the label of “Communist sympathizers.”
 
At the time, Korea’s Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, publication and artistic expression. Yet these constitutional rights offered no protection against the horrific torture inflicted by Defense Security Command agents. Han later described his ordeal in his book, “For Forgiveness.” He wrote, “I returned to Jeju Island as a bug. I lived as a bug. Even bugs survive.” The metaphor of a bug reflects the depth of his humiliation and despair.
 
The illegal torture conducted by the Defense Security Command 44 years ago remains a dark stain on Korea’s modern history, one that must never be repeated. Yet the events surrounding the Dec. 3 martial law incident last year have revived the trauma of this painful past.
 
The testimony of former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service, Hong Jang-won, was shocking. Appearing before the National Assembly’s special committee on the investigation of martial law on Jan. 22, he testified about the situation at the time. 
 
According to Hong, during a phone call on the day martial law was declared, President Yoon instructed him, “Round them all up and settle this once and for all. Provide full support to the Counterintelligence Command.” Initially, Hong assumed it was a case involving a North Korean spy ring. However, after receiving a list of targets from former Counterintelligence Command Director Yeon In-hyung, he realized it was an order to arrest politicians.
 
The list, as testified by Yeon, included figures such as former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, among 14 names.
 
Additionally, military prosecutors uncovered evidence that former Defense Intelligence Commander Roh Sang-won instructed his subordinates to prepare torture equipment under the pretext of investigating “election fraud.” During a “burger shop meeting” in November last year, Roh reportedly told then-Commander of Intelligence Moon Sang-ho and others, “Prepare baseball bats, cable ties and masks.” He allegedly added, “Once you procure the equipment, I’ll reimburse you. It’s a direct order from Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.”
 
The indictment by military prosecutors detailed that an intelligence colonel procured aluminum baseball bats, cable ties, blindfolds, masks and ropes. It defies belief that in 21st-century Korea, such tools of torture were being prepared within the military — not in North Korea, but here.
 
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended public apologies, reparations and further investigations 18 years ago for the victims of the Han Su-san case. Yet no public apology was ever issued. Today, the key figures behind the martial law incident are similarly refusing to take responsibility, instead resorting to excuses and sophistry to evade legal accountability.
 
It is profoundly disheartening to witness history repeating itself due to the absence of sincere reflection. Without genuine accountability, the wounds of the past remain open, leaving the door open for their recurrence. 
 
Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.  
 
 
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