 A copy of a daily published on March, 31, 1939, in Manchuria, which reports that the late former President Park Chung-hee made a pledge of allegiance written in blood to the Japanese army in 1939 / Courtesy of Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities |
Staff Reporter
A research institute specializing in studies of modern Korean history has released a Japanese newspaper's historic article showing that the late former President Park Chung-hee (1917-1979) made a pledge of allegiance written in blood to the Japanese army in 1939.
The release of the report by the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities came just several days after Park Ji-man, the only son of the late President, filed for an injunction with a Seoul court to get his father's name removed from a new list of collaborators with the Japanese colonial government. The court, however, turned down the injunction, Friday.
The institute plans to release on Sunday three books containing the names of about 4,300 Koreans who the institute says cooperated with Japan before and during the colonial period (1910-1945).
According to the released copy of the newspaper named the"Manchurian Daily," published on March, 31, 1939, in the Chinese area, which was also occupied by Japan at that time, Park filed an application to become an officer of the Manchurian military unit controlled by the Japanese army while he was working as a teacher at a provincial school in Korea.
After his first failure to join the army because of his age, he filed a second application bearing a pledge of allegiance written in his own blood ― "I pledge allegiance with my own life, Park Chung-hee."
On his third attempt, he was approved to enter a Japanese military school in 1940 and thanks to his outstanding performance there, he was transferred to the Japanese Military Academy in 1942. He graduated from the academy in 1944 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Manchurian military unit that year. In July 1945, he was promoted to first lieutenant.
The institute said it had decided to release the data as it had been bombarded with threatening calls from supporters of the late President in the wake of the news that his son filed an injunction to remove his father's name from the list of pro-Japanese figures.
An official from the institute said that the Manchurian daily was published by Japanese people in their mother tongue mainly for those living in the region.
"A Korean teacher's pledge of allegiance in blood to the Japanese army must have been big news even for Japanese people and that's why it made a headline at that time," the official said.
He said the Manchurian military unit was under the control of the Japanese Kwangtung Army and had been regarded as a stepping stone to move higher in the social hierarchy during the colonial period.
The official said the institute unveiled the data to help block the unnecessary expansion of disputes surrounding Park's pro-Japanese acts and instead open a new ground for reasonable discussions.
Park's son, the brother of former chairwoman of the ruling Grand National Party, Park Geun-hye, demanded on Wednesday that the court suspend publication of the books, denying that his father served in the Japanese army or persecuted independence fighters.
It's been 30 years since the former President was shot to death by his subordinate. People remain poles apart in their evaluations of the late President because of his mode of dictatorship.
He was a ruthless military general who led a bloody coup d'etat, but also initiated industrialization programs in the 1960s and '70s to pull the nation out of the lasting effects of the war.
chojh@koreatimes.co.kr
