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Min
Black Belt
Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 32
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 Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:25 pm Post subject: President Park Chung Hee |
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Would you consider him as the greatest modern President of S.Korea so far? Where would you rank him among the leaders of the history of Korea? Any interesting facts or stories about him you would like to share? How would you analyze his Presidency?
Personally, I think he is one of the main reasons why South Korea has developed into an economic powerhouse. The leftist groups criticize him for being a dictator who impeded democracy but I honestly believe he was looking for S.Korea's interest in the long-run. He knew the hardships of poverty for he experienced it during his childhood and he knew that sacrafices had to be made for S.Korea to become a great modern nation. If it wasn't for Park Chung Hee, S.Korea would not be the powerful economic nation it is today. |
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consoleman
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5735
Location: In the Pacific ocean
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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^ The leftists criticized him being Chinilpa rather than dictator. Before 1990s, no Koreans compared him being dictator. Yes, he was dictator and at same time he was the military leader.
However, he wasn't only dictator in SK politic. SKorea had two more military dictators Chun DH and Roh TW.
It's true that he led the economic miracle of Han river and rural development projects that led to foundation of modernization & economic development.
Don't forget at same time, President Marcos of Philippine was same military dictator and Philippine was much richer than SKorea during 1960~70s, and yet SKorea surpassed Philippine more than 30 years ago.
Also, SKorea's economic grew much bigger right after the civilian government took power from military dictators.
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"Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone" |
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kominam
KS Fan
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:50 am Post subject: |
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| Without Park, South Korea's economy would have stayed in the crapper. Democracy is only one form of government, and not the best one either. Korea existed long before democracy came on the scene. And Korea will exist long after democracy is no longer on the scene. Sometimes dictatorship is necessary to save a nation. |
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consoleman
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5735
Location: In the Pacific ocean
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:32 am Post subject: |
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^ Park being dictator is no problem for every Koreans but there are people loosely paint him as Chinilpa (Pro-Japan).
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"Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone" |
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Min
Black Belt
Joined: 20 Jul 2009
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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I'm curious if he, during his time as a Japanese officer, did anything that harmed Korea at the time.
Anyways, heres a good feature on Pres. Park Chung Hee.
| Quote: | The two faces of Park Chung Hee
Historians still debate Park’s legacy as an authoritarian ruler and the man who industrialized the nation.
October 29, 2009
Thirty years have passed since former Korean President Park Chung Hee was assassinated, but he remains a highly controversial figure.
Like Jekyll and Hyde, former South Korean President Park Chung Hee (1917-1979) has two faces.
One is that of a ruthless military general who liked guns and led a bloody coup d’etat. The other is of a man who sought to escape poverty and spent time with ordinary people drinking makgeolli, the Korean rice wine long popular among tired and hungry farmers.
It’s been 30 years since he died. And historians still debate which of Park’s faces Koreans should embrace.
Park believed a revolution was inevitable in order for Korea to recover from the lasting effects of the war.
Makgeolli, traditional Korean rice wine, was one of Park’s favorite alcoholic beverages, and he would often drink it with farmers. [JoongAng Ilbo]
The instrument of Park’s revolution was his prolonged period of authoritarian rule. The people or things that got in the way were seen as obstacles and he was quick and merciless in getting rid of them.
Although many are critical of Park, there are some who argue that his actions were done not for his own benefit, but for the good of the nation.
It is true that most Koreans lived in dire poverty from the 1960s to 1970s and that after Park’s massive economic revival movement, many Koreans found themselves living in better conditions.
It is also true that although he was a dictator, Park and his wife, Yuk Young-soo, did not live in luxurious conditions. Rather, the Park family had flyflaps (for swatting insects) and bricks in the toilets to conserve water. They didn’t use an air conditioner, but left their windows open in summer.
Ruthless general
Park may have led a frugal life, but many people died as he continued his relentless pursuit of his beliefs.
One of the most well-known incidents is the Yun Pil-yong Incident of 1973. Yun, then the capital garrison commander, was Park’s long-time confidant and one of the key figures in his administration.
Park heard that Yun had begun talking to Lee Hu-Rak, director of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency, about finding a successor for Park.
Yun had become a threat. And Park was not about to leave things at that.
Yun and many others were taken to the Defense Security Command and tortured. Later, they were either sent to jail or forced to quit.
Park maintained his power through the Yusin Constitution, which essentially extended his rule indefinitely. It increased the presidential term and put no limits on re-election and transferred the election of the president to an electoral college.
Park used the KCIA, DSC, the prosecution and police to stay in power and clamp down on any possible threats. The organizations were notorious for suppressing freedom of speech and the press during Park’s rule.
Few escaped these repressive policies, including artists. Korean-German composer Yun Isang (1917-1995), for one, was abducted, tried for treason and sentenced to life in prison for befriending North Koreans.
However, Park’s authoritarian actions led him to become increasingly unpopular and people began demonstrating against him.
Five years after the Yusin Constitution had been implemented, Park was shot by Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the KCIA, on Oct. 26, 1979.
Friend to the common people
Park often shared this incident from his childhood, which is illustrative of the conditions that may have led him to lead such a spartan life: “I was a sixth-grader at Gumi Elementary School. It was the eve of Chuseok [the fall harvest holiday], and school had finished early. When I entered my village, there was the smell of all kinds of delicious, holiday food. But when I arrived at my house, there was no smell of any food. In fact, there was no food whatsoever. I can never forget how I felt that day.”
Park is known to have drunk Chivas Regal in his final years. But his favorite drink was makgeolli.
“I think makgeolli had special meaning for Park, who grew up in a farming village, because it has long been something that has appeased the hunger of farmers,” said Kim Jeong-ryeom, a former chief of staff.
Most of Park’s belongings - suits, shirts, belts, shoes, cigarettes - were made in Korea, according to those who worked with him. But he did have three foreign products among his possessions - a pen, a tie and an electric shaver. He used a Parker pen to stimulate Korean pen makers; a foreign-made tie because the knots on Korean ties often came untied; and an electric shaver from overseas because there weren’t any Korean ones back then.
A doctor who saw Park when he was brought to the hospital after he was shot said that he couldn’t believe his patient was the president because the gilt on his tiepin had worn off and his belt showed signs of wear.
Park is known to have liked spending time with farmers, factory girls and “Ms. Bus Guides,” who were in charge of collecting bus fares and alerting bus drivers to stop for passengers in the 1960s and ’70s. Upon meeting one female factory worker who said it was her wish to learn, Park ordered the factory to set up a night school for its workers.
Ironically, the late president cherished labor, but under his leadership, labor rights were less than a cherished value.
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2911842 |
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kominam
KS Fan
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Japan played a key role in boosting S. Korea's economy in the form of financial assistance, which Park asked for (and got) when he stopped over in Japan after his visit with JFK in 1961. Normalization between SK and Japan was part of the US Cold War security system in East Asia. Democratic government and values were very unnatural and alien to Korean culture. But then again, so is industrialization, but that's a whole 'nother topic. All this whining about Park being authoritarian and some traitor is a lot of empty leftist BS. |
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consoleman
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5735
Location: In the Pacific ocean
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| Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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^ Bulk of Japanese investment was mostly from these rich Zainichi Koreans.
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"Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone" |
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kominam
KS Fan
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:42 am Post subject: |
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| Min wrote: | | I'm curious if he, during his time as a Japanese officer, did anything that harmed Korea at the time. |
Many South Korean officials who served in the government and military right after independence were employed by the Japanese colonial machine. Ideally, if they had knowingly murdered and tortured Korean independence fighters, then they should have been either executed or imprisoned for life. Unfortunately, South Korea lacked competent bureaucrats and generals who were not Japanese collaborators. Frankly, South Korea had no choice but to hire these Korean holdovers from the old colonial regime to set up a functioning society, otherwise they could never get the ROK off the ground. It's good that South Korea is now talking openly about Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese, but it's not useful trying to go after these Koreans or their descendants now. |
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Priceless12
Isageum
Joined: 07 Jul 2008
Posts: 2337
Location: A-Town, GA lmfao
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| Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: |
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I say yes, he is the greatest President. Even if he wasn't great, he'd be the most important and crucial in all of Korea's history.
South Korea would be in the dirt if it didn't have a dictator-like leader then. The people would have suffered before another country claims the land.
Made sure China and Japan wouldn't come to "help". |
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Captain Corea
9th Dan
Joined: 29 Jan 2010
Posts: 205
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| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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| It's popular to bash him nowadays, but I always ask those bashing him - where would Korea be without him? |
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Eulji
5th Dan
Joined: 16 Feb 2010
Posts: 80
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:22 am Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: | | It's popular to bash him nowadays, but I always ask those bashing him - where would Korea be without him? |
No offense but I find it slightly insulting that you , a foreigner can such things.
Can you honestly say to those mothers who lost their sons to imprisonment during Park Chung Hee's dictatorship that since Korea is an economic power and the standards of living have increased that Park Chung Hee should be exonerated for all his crimes? Can you look those who directly suffered under his dictatorship and say so?
I'm not so sure about this but I believe that Park Chung Hee basically sold out comfort women who were denied compensation because he himself decided he'd use the funds to revitalize the economy.
I agree, Korea would probably not be in the situation it is in today, conversely, you probably wouldn't be in Korea either, since people rarely want to live in countries that are poor.
So yes Captain Corea, it's popular to bash him, but it's also popular to defend him. |
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consoleman
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 5735
Location: In the Pacific ocean
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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I like to ask this question to these people who sympathies Park Junghee and telling us 'where would Korea be without him?'.
S.Korea would still existed even without Park.
He was a just 2 stars general before the military coup d'etat, sure he did developed Korean economy with American/Japanese loans, but he didn't done this alone. His administration thinktank was all came from Kim Jong Pil, other Park's people weren't very smart as Kim Jong Pil.
So frankly we should thank Kim Jongpil for economic development.
Where would America be without Washington?
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"Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone" |
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Priceless12
Isageum
Joined: 07 Jul 2008
Posts: 2337
Location: A-Town, GA lmfao
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| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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I think the changes PCH implemented were supposedly very essential in making Korea today.
Shamanistic ideas were mostly gotten rid of during his time which might have left Korea in similar situation as Mongolia, for example.
PCH definitely were a huge part of getting people to work. Realistically, a country cannot be "inspired" to work like Korea did without any "force" alone. Hoover's presidency during the Depression was a good example. The Americans has much more reasons to rebuild the country yet didn't. They needed the gov'ts push. And PCH had the guts to do it.
CaptainCorea is a foreigner and I do watch closely to what he says, but I agree with him here. |
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Yu Bumsuk
9th Dan
Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 271
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| Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: President Park Chung Hee |
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| Min wrote: | Would you consider him as the greatest modern President of S.Korea so far? Where would you rank him among the leaders of the history of Korea? Any interesting facts or stories about him you would like to share? How would you analyze his Presidency?
Personally, I think he is one of the main reasons why South Korea has developed into an economic powerhouse. The leftist groups criticize him for being a dictator who impeded democracy but I honestly believe he was looking for S.Korea's interest in the long-run. He knew the hardships of poverty for he experienced it during his childhood and he knew that sacrafices had to be made for S.Korea to become a great modern nation. If it wasn't for Park Chung Hee, S.Korea would not be the powerful economic nation it is today. |
If it weren't for him I could well be working at Tim Horton's and most of my students would be working in rice paddies. Almost everyone who was a student in the 70s has some sort of hatred for him, from simmering to burning. I heard a lecture from one guy who said he and his mates liked to piss on a monument errected in his honour. But give it 100 years (or less) and his face will probably be on Korean money.
My favourite PCH story is how he carried on and finished his speech after his wife got shot in a failed assassination attempt and was dying en route to hospital. That really says all there is to know about the man's resolve. |
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seville
Newbie
Joined: 21 Jan 2010
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I think ParkChungHee has been the greatest <i>modern</i> president, as of now at least. He was pretty much the initiator of South Korea's modern era. As a personality and person however, I dislike the man, but from an economic point of view of things he deserves credit. It was a good idea to aid the US in the Vietnam War. |
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