Reminiscence on Korea’s First President
By William Roger Jones
The polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, ``Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him." One may as well say, too, that a man becomes infamous because he has the improper stuff in him. Did the once proud name of Syngman Rhee fall wholly into disrepute?
Michael Breen's enlightening article, the 16th in the series ``Century of Turbulence," published on the anniversary of the April 19 Democratic Revolution in this month's issue of The Korea Times reminded me of my visit to the Syngman Rhee Memorial Hall in August of 2007. The Memorial Hall is an extension of Seoul Monument No. 6, where the first president of Korea lived from 1947 until moving into the Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae).
The Paradise Hotel (Seoguipo, Jeju Island) served as the country retreat or seaside villa for the former President Lee Seung-man as he is known in Korea. The Memorial Hall site and its memorabilia may serve to warn or remind.
As Mr. Breen stated in his article, Syngman Rhee is not remembered with the greatest affection by most Koreans today. During his watch, his administration was embroiled with widespread corruption and irregularities. President's Rhee's years of service were turbulent, which is characteristic of a fledgling government coping with approaches toward democracy. Much of his offices' power was usurped because Syngman Rhee was not in tune with the times due to senescence.
Every leader has detractors, however, having seen the aerial photo of Mr. Rhee's funeral procession on the route to the Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, tens of thousands appeared, and I thought still, there went a great man loved by a great many!
There were a total of 12 showcases and several framed pictures on the walls, plaques of Mr. Rhee's calligraphic couplets and classical Chinese verse as well as a wall chronological personal history. Reading every inscription and description of each displayed item required about two hours, which instilled an emotion of dread, veneration and wonder, and perhaps a bit of disbelief.
Upon viewing, one realizes that Mr. Rhee was a prolific writer. There was his first edition of ``The Spirit of Independence" (Dongnip Jeongsin), considered his magnum opus. ``Japan Inside Out: The Challenge of Today" with its original tattered red dust cover with Japan silhouetted in black was on display. In that book, Rhee warned of Japan's impending aggression toward the United States. Two months after its publication Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
As Breen stated, ``Rhee's South Korea was a poor, agricultural country. ... Rhee had no economic vision." However, for ill or worse, he promulgated the Agricultural Land Reform Act (Legislative Law No. 31) in June 1949. ``It played a decisive role in preventing the peasantry from embracing communism during the Korean conflict." To the demise of the landlord class, it placed 92 percent of farmland in the hands of the cultivator farmers.
On the other hand, President Rhee's introduction in 1950 of a compulsory education system with an increase of teachers and construction of school buildings charted impressive statistics. And, of no less importance was President Rhee's and President Truman's handshake commemorating the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty of 1953.
When appraising or assessing Rhee's responsibilities, we would do well to bear in mind William Penn's thoughts: ``Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined also. Therefore governments depend upon men rather than men upon governments."
William Roger Jones has taught English in Korea for five years. He presently teaches with the English Program in Korea (EPIK). He has written a novella with his Korean wife entitled ``Beyond Harvard.'' He can be reached at billjones47@hotmail.com.