And coincidentally, it’s not just the hard right that’s pissed off. Even traditionally “progressive” voices such as the Hankyoreh have not been as kind to the man as one would imagine. I have an article that I found in a local Kwangju paper - of all places - quoting local scholars and NGO reps - of all people - as being disappointed in Song:

http://kr.dailynews.yahoo.com/.....13323.html

Granted, they were more angry that he lied rather than what he stood for, but read it yourself. And I’m sure you read Jang Ki-pyo’s rather scathing condemnation of Song in the Dong-A:

http://kr.dailynews.yahoo.com/.....33152.html

You’ll agree that Jang isn’t your prototypical evil right winger?

Look, I agree that a many of those on the far right (which, in the Korean context, is pretty far right) are not the most pleasant people with whom to engage in rational political discourse, but frankly, neither are those on the radical left. Yeah, rightists say stupid (and frightening!) stuff all the time, but the left resorts to the “anti-unification” (ban-t’ongil) and “anti-Korean” (ban-minjok) rhetoric pretty often, too - certainly, crying “treason” (whether its to the state or the race) is not a monopoly of the Korean right. Actually, I’m frequently impressed by just how much the political extremes in Korea have in common, although the same could probably be said of political extemists everywhere.

As far Song not being a Marxist, well, regardless of the man’s philosophical beliefs, he did join the Korean Workers’ Party in 1973, when it was still officially a Marxist-Leninist party, and apparently remained a member until at least 1991. And as far as a being a victim of circumstance, I can think of a lot more “victims of circumstance” - like pro-Japanese collaborators and those who worked with the post-’61 military dictators, that “progressives” show much less sympathy for. Do I feel bad for the guy for being kicked out the country? Yes. Do I think he should be prosecuted (and even Noh is saying he should be held accountable to the law)? No, because I think the law in question - the National Security Law - is bullshit. But let’s just say that it seems (and I’ll admit that the details are still doggy) that Song made some very unfortunate choices during his time in exile, and for those, he has no one to blame but himself.

PS: Always feel free to send me Korean language material. I do read Korean (although one of my fellow bloggers may take issue with that).

PING:
TITLE: Korea Briefing: 2003-10-14
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
OCT 14/03 TOPICS INCL: Must-read article; Asian values; Total Recall in SK too?; Wider regional role for USFK; NK Developments; Nukes updates; What to do about NK?; Lifestyles of the Rich and Stalinist; ROK forces to Iraq?; Food aid to NK; NK’s economy…

http://www.gatorlog.com/mt/archives/000268.html

You probably know the Korean right wing is not a reasonable group to discuss issues. Horrible and ugly people….
They even argue that “We need to thrwo Roh’s government with a Military Coup because it is legitimate to topple over a dictatorian regime.” If you have not heard this arguement before, please let me know.

They will do everything to do witch-hunting with this Korean-version of McCarthyism. Let’s see: They will argue that President Roh Moohyun is in fact a high official of “No-Dong-Dang” in North Korea.