Sunshine Policy Is More Than Politics
By Kang Shin-who
Korea Times Correspondent
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ― The Head of the Korea Institute at Harvard University said that former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s ``Sunshine Policy’’ of engaging North Korea is about humanity rather than politics.
David R. McCann, director of Korea Institute at the university said that the engagement policy is ``not just for two Koreas but a big principle in international relations.’’
``The sunshine policy is not a political policy but something like humanity,’’ he said.
In an interview with The Korea Times, the Harvard professor recalled his personal memories with the architect of the sunshine policy, adding ``politics in Korea is very contentious and I am an outsider and I am not saying something on policy or politics.’’
In the early 1980s when the former president was in prison facing the death sentence on subversion charges, he wrote letters to his family and McCann helped translate them and get them published in English by the University of California Press.
``In one of his letters in 1981 to his son, he delivered a very moving message. `We must forgive our enemy’ and I think he might have been thinking of Park Chung-hee and the Korean government that were always threatening him,’’ McCann said.
``With forgiveness in mind, Kim went to Pyongyang in 2000 and he shook hands with Kim Jong-il and for me it was an astonishing moment in Korean history because in a way all of the controversy, `Who started the war?’ and `Who is responsible for this?’ he just cut all those issues out with handshakes,’’ he said. ``I thought it was a strikingly different kind of political leadership. It was not based on threats, but based on finding a point of agreement. That’s extremely important in Korean history.’’
He said that he often cites the travesties that the Korean people have come through during their long history as examples for students at his classes to reflect on.
``In year 2001, the day after 9/11, I was in the first meeting of my class on Korean cultural identity. There were 15 undergraduate students sitting in front of me.’’
``Student asked me `What do we do?’ `What should we do?’ and I said `In Korean history, we can see the country was threatened over and over again by powerful forces from outside, Mongol invasion, Japanese invasion and the Korean War and how does Korea respond? There might be some lessons. Let me share one with you.’ and I read the letter by Kim Dae-jung to his son. I didn't suggest that was the only answer but it was something for us to think about.’’
With these views in mind, the director invited Kim last week to the university for a lecture. However, McCann, who is also serving as Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature, made it clear that Harvard doesn’t take a position in politics.
The Korea Institute was founded in 1981 at Harvard and became an independent institute in 1993. Currently the institute has three professorship positions, Prof. Carter J. Eckert and Prof. Kim Sun-joo of Korean History and Prof. McCann of Korean Literature, who has been heading the organization since 2004.
He said the institute is not a place only for studying Korean studies but for helping many Harvard professors and students in other fields such as engineering, medicine and economics to interact with Korea.