By Kim Heung-sook
``What would Mahatma Gandhi do?" was the first thing that occurred to me when I heard the news that the national police were considering using tear gas against protesters. The answer was apparent. Gandhi wouldn't do anything violent even if with his eyes stinging and tears streaming down in a sea of Pepper Fog. How about the late Ham Sokhon, whom many people describe as the Korean Gandhi?
Why do I think of Gandhi so suddenly? Because the possible return of tear gas on the streets of Seoul was reported shortly after I attended an academic gathering held to cherish the memories of Ham and Gandhi on the anniversaries of their deaths. Ham passed away on Feb. 4, 1989, and Gandhi was assassinated on Jan. 30, 1948.
The lecture-discussion was held in the basement auditorium at Kim Dae-jung Library, which was almost packed but with few young faces. I was curious to know how many Indian youths would come if a similar event were held in New Delhi. Satish Sharma, an Indian diplomat based in Seoul, said that Gandhi was still relevant today, with his call for world peace and economic self-sufficiency, his belief in truth and his denial of hatred. Sharma, however, didn't say if Gandhi still had a massive following among young men and women in India.
In Korea, both Ham and Gandhi are featured in the ``Great Lives" series for children but have been nearly forgotten as social reformers until recently, probably because the nation didn't need that much struggle for freedom during the three consecutive democratic governments headed by Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Roh Moo-hyun before the incumbent took over.
As is well known, Gandhi led India to independence from Britain and promoted civil rights and freedom through resistance to tyranny based on ``ahimsa," or total non-violence. Ham devoted his life to fighting non-violently for freedom against the dictators who ran the nation from the 1960s through to the 1980s.
Ham made unsparing efforts to bring Gandhi to Korea, translating his autobiography and other writings into Korean. He was apparently influenced by Gandhi's emphasis on non-violence. Both Gandhi and Ham were imprisoned many times but wrote vigorously. The Indian government published the complete works of Gandhi in the 1960s and Ham's writings are to be published as a 30-book set in March by private groups in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of his death.
The renewed attention paid to the legacies of the two great men reflects the Korean yearning to revive them, according to Dr. Kim Young-ho, a professor emeritus at Inha University. He said that Korea needed to remember and practice Gandhi's ``sarvodaya," or ``welfare of all," and Ham's ``Live Together" movement, to put an end to the current tendency toward sectarianism.
Gandhi was a Hindu and Ham was a Quaker, yet their credos nurtured religious openness and pluralism to the extent of ``no religion," Prof. Kim said, lamenting that religion had come to mean another form of restraint in Korea today. Kim also said that the two men's pursuit of peace and non-violence was earning growing support, as violence was increasingly taking the place of dialogue.
Lee Chi-seok, who authored a biography of Ham, said that he was a revolutionary who tried to overhaul the nation's public education. Lee quoted Ham as saying 50 years ago: ``They're factories, not schools. There, skilled workers called teachers turn out products by doing some machine work on materials called children. Products that meet certain standards become merchandise, while those deemed unfit are abandoned without hesitation. The factory owners don't care about the lives of the individuals, for they only aim at profit."
It's worthwhile to revive Gandhi and Ham after all these years. The sad thing is they are summoned not for the celebration of their great achievements but to solve current problems. I hope the Korean government will spend some time studying their thoughts and lives before re-employing tear gas for the first time in 10 years.