(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Aug. 24)

Goodbye, Mr. President: Entire Nation Should Take Over DJ's Unfinished Work

Koreans bade their final farewell to former President Kim Dae-jung Sunday, whose
death has left a void that no one can fill for long.
There are more than a dozen titles and modifiers that can come before the name of
Kim Dae-jung, the 15th President of the Republic of Korea. Among the most
frequently cited are ``Nelson Mandela of Korea," ``champion of democracy,"
``human rights hero," ``peacemaker of East Asia" and ``a politician of
forgiveness and reconciliation."
All of these may be right in some respects, but none can describe the late Korean
leader as a whole better than these three words: a great man.
Love of the Weak
Kim Dae-jung, more widely known by his initials DJ, deserves a place on the list of
great names, not just in Korean but world history. It is not merely because he
underwent a more tumultuous and dramatic life than any other Korean in modern
history, including at least five escapes from death and 15 years of exile,
imprisonment and house arrest, to finally turn dictatorship into democracy in his
country. And it is not solely because he rescued the nation from the Asian financial
crisis more rapidly and effectively than any of Korea's neighbors. Nor even is it
just because he reconciled rival Koreas and drastically reduced risks of another
military conflict on the divided Korean Peninsula.
It is because he attained all these with a ``telescopic" historical horizon, and,
at the same time, ``microscopic" care of the people ??? weak and poor people in
particular ??? throughout his life. Underneath all of DJ's major achievements is
his love of the isolated and underprivileged, an important focus for him
throughout his entire political life. From this came his untiring crusade for
democracy and human rights, both here and abroad, and detente on this peninsula
aimed at embracing North Koreans, one of the poorest and most isolated peoples in
the world.
This seemingly contrasting mix of virtuous traits as a politician could also be
found in his emphasis on having ``a scholar's foresight and a merchant's senses."
On top of these political instincts was his ceaseless self-training of reading
and studying, which made DJ the most complete politician-cum-administrator Korea
has seen in recent memories. Among those in DJ's classes, Park Chung-hee was also
farsighted and resolute but cold and ruthless, and Kim Young-sam, DJ's longtime
rival and friend, was brave but not wise. What was lacking in the two old-style
leaders was warmth ??? the deep-seated, heartfelt love DJ had of the people he
governed.
Light and Shade
While attempting to overcome the least favorable political environment, filled
with oppression and discrimination due to differences in class, region and
ideology, DJ committed not a few personal and political mistakes in what his
critics sum up as the ``privatization of public parties." DJ's perennial sense of
indebtedness to his family members and close aides as co-victims also led to his
negligence ??? or tolerance, as his opponents say ??? of their succumbing to the
seduction of power.
There are bigger controversies, too, including one about the effectiveness of
DJ's Sunshine Policy of engaging the communist country in the north. We don't
fully agree with Professor Moon Jung-in of Yonsei University, who says the
Sunshine Policy was really implemented for only eight months over the past nine
years ??? in the latter half of 2000 and the last two months of 2007 in the wake
of two inter-Korean summits.
However, aside from the reclusive regime's intention, one needs to ask whether
its counterparts ??? the United States, Japan and Korea in particular ??? have
faithfully done their parts in the face of stiff opposition from their respective
conservative political forces. The engagement policy's real value has yet to be
proven under a longer perspective and more willing atmosphere.
Needless to say, DJ was no God, nor even faultless. His weaknesses and mistakes,
however, seem too insignificant to hide his greatness and accomplishment, seen
not just at his final moments but from the longer-term perspective of history.
Take former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the most respected leaders not
just in America but in the rest of the world. Lincoln's biography shows he also
committed many mistakes, including the control of media and detention of numerous
people without trials, and his private life was not very exemplary. Still he is
revered as the best president of all times, for his one greatest accomplishment
??? abolishing slavery. Differences in their circumstances aside, there are few
good reasons Kim Dae-jung should not receive similar treatment none other than
from his own compatriots.
In this regard, President Lee Myung-bak deserves credit for holding a state
funeral for his great predecessor, casting aside some ultra-rightists' worthless
harangue. The incumbent President must go further from there. In DJ's entire life
of 85 years strewn with glory and shame, his final days should be said to be
closer to the latter, due in large part to his conservative successors who called
his tenure and that of his political disciple ??? former President Roh Moo-hyun
who died three months before DJ ??? a ``lost decade."
Restoration of Legacy
Of course President Lee might find it not so easy to transcend the ideological
differences and follow DJ's policies as they are. But one needs not argue about
the ideological gap in following one key discipline that DJ preached and
practiced all through his life ??? politics for the weak and poor. There should
be no difference between liberals and conservatives in agreeing that conducting
politics is mainly supposed to serve the people, particularly those at the lowest
bracket of social ladders. DJ once asked, ``If politicians should serve only
wealthy and powerful people, can that be called politics?"
DJ also thought that it cannot be considered politics or government to allow and
even perpetuate national division and turn a blind eye to the plights of 80
million Koreans, gripped by Cold War mindsets and swayed by surrounding global
powers' logic.
We are relieved in this vein that a warm wind of change has just begun to blow on
the world's only divided nation these days, as seen by President Lee's meeting with
the North Korean delegation. The occasion could hardly be more perfect ??? the
Koreas extend hands of reconciliation before the spirit of the great peacemaker.
This is a time for us Koreans, not only politicians, but all citizens, to come
forth to ease the bulk of the burden DJ, also called the ``conscience in action,"
has carried almost singlehandedly through his life. He taught Koreans democracy
can be won neither for free nor once and for all. It belongs to those people who
ceaselessly struggle to restore it whenever it goes astray, and DJ thought Korea
is now in such a situation, seen by his reported tears upon taking his eternal
rest.
All Koreans must be wishing that one of their greatest leaders rest in peace. But
it is their efforts to fulfill DJ's unfulfilled task ??? democracy, national
unity and reconciliation ??? that ``make" the deceased statesman rest in peace.
(END)