Last week, a Seoul court ordered the state to pay an indemnity of 63.7 billion won ($67 million) to the families of eight people who were executed in 1975 after being convicted of pro-North Korean activities. The "Inhyeok-dang (People's Revolutionary Party) Eight" are perfect examples of "legal murders" committed during the height of President Park Chung-hee's dictatorship.
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The indemnity consists of the original compensation of 24.5 billion won as well as 32 years of accumulated interest totaling 39.2 billion won from the time the state committed the injustice. If the district court ruling is confirmed by the high court, the indemnity will go down as the largest one to be paid to individuals in the entire judiciary history of Korea.
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The ruling on the Inhyeok-dang case drew particular public attention not only for the large figure of compensation but also for the fact that it came in the same week as Park Geun-hye, daughter of President Park, reached the apex of her political career, which was built largely on her father's legacy. After an almost year-long presidential nomination race in the Grand National Party, Park won more votes from the electoral college, but lost to Lee Myung-bak, who gained more support in public opinion polls.
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Since she entered politics in the early 1990s, Park Geun-hye has been trailed by her deceased father's dual images as a visionary leader who should be credited for Korea's escape from poverty and as a dictator who ruthlessly suppressed dissenters against his wielding absolute power until his assassination in 1979. The Inhyeok-dang Eight were arrested in a crackdown on dissident students and pro-democracy activists and were tried on trumped-up charges of forming a pro-North, antistate body. They were executed on April 8, 1975, only 18 hours after the Supreme Court confirmed their death sentences.
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The Republic of Korea today represents the compounding of two elements, appositely named liberals and conservatives, the former condemning the past injustices and advocating a continuation of the process of settling the score and the latter taking pride in the past record of "nation-building," of which Park Geun-hye could be a symbol. The liberal forces had wanted Park to win in the Aug. 19 primary as they believed she was an easier opponent to beat because of the political liabilities she inherited from her father.
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The present leftist government's emphasis on "correcting the past" is well displayed in a special presidential commission's confiscation of assets of former pro-Japanese collaborators. The commission is investigating the properties of over 100 people from a list of 450 "traitors" who were given imperial honors and land by the Japanese for their help in the colonization of Korea in the early 1900s.
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The Seoul district court's indemnity order in the Inhyeok-dang case was the judiciary version of establishing justice on a dark chapter of the republic's history. But the law failed to extend its hands of justice to the dictator who must be ultimately responsible for the execution of the eight men. And it would prove futile if anyone tries to draw a parallel between pro-Japanese collaborators and undemocratic rulers and to extend their punishment to their descendants in the name of national justice.
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Still, politics is a different arena. We will have to expect a lot of debate on the subject of "the past" as Lee Myung-bak, a prominent player in the business sector during Park Chung-hee's national development era, may have to share his legacy in the absence of Park Chung-hee's daughter in the final presidential race.
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