DJ Has Records of Firsts in Korean History

By Park Chang-seok

“First” is a word often used to describe former president Kim Dae-jung, who passed away yesterday.

Kim was the “first” Korean president elected from the opposition party in 50 years of modern Korean politics.

Kim, better known by his nickname, “DJ,” was Korea’s “first” Nobel Peace laureate.

“DJ” was the “first” Korean head of state armed with a free mastery of languages and global perceptive (save for former president Syngman Rhee, the first head of state of the Republic of Korea, who had an American educational background).

Personally, I have a few “first” remembrances of DJ from when I served as the managing editor of The Korea Times during his 1998-2003 presidency.

I had something in common with DJ while he was in office because of his deep interest in English newspapers, especially The Korea Times, a publication which in my view has been unfairly treated as a “minor leaguer” among local media due to a biased public that thinks little of the influence of Englishlanguage media.

I spoke with DJ during an interview specially arranged for The Korea Times, in June 1998, upon his inauguration and prior to his departure for the United States for summit talks.

The hour-long interview was an unexpectedly good “reaping” for me at a time when I was deeply concerned about running The Korea Times during unprecedented financial difficulty. DJ promised positive support for financially fragile English dailies along with words of encouragement, which often led to substantial financial support through encouraging corporate advertising.

Most encouraging was DJ describing himself as an ardent reader of The Korea Times and a “model student” who mastered English through reading English dailies, especially The Korea Times.

While meeting the Times editorial staff, DJ noted the importance of English newspapers in the era of the global village as a way to help foreigners have a better understanding of Korea, a country which heavily relies on external factors such as exports and foreign investments. He defined English as a “world language for all global races,” not a mere “folk language only for Americans and Britons.”

Kim’s proficiency in English was showcased for the first time in his interview with The New York Times on the eve of his inauguration, which surprised an NYT interviewer.

In a front-page article in the edition of Feb. 23, 1998, the NYT portrayed DJ as “A New Kind of Leader for South Korea, Asia,” highly praising his mastery of English.

Asked how he learned English so well, DJ replied, “I learned English from an American Peace Corps volunteer and by tutoring myself, puzzling over the English-language Korea Times with a dictionary.”

Actually, DJ remained a successful student, utilizing Newspaper in Education (NIE), a new educational method using newspapers, which has recently been rapidly pervading learning institutions. On top of this, DJ was also a messenger who highlighted the importance of education through English newspapers based on his own experience.

Asked about the best way to build English skills, Kim said, “The only way to English proficiency is to study systematically and practice endlessly.”

Similar tones were found in a book Kim wrote in English, called “A New Beginning,” in which he wrote, “There is no magic road to learning English.”

“For us, English is next in importance to Korean. It is the world language today. If we want to live in a dignified manner, all of us must learn English. Especially, it is a must for youngsters. Otherwise, they will have to encounter inconveniences and losses to their life,” Kim said.

“What I would like to emphasize is that, even though I did not attend college and I could not speak English at all until I was almost 50, I was nevertheless able to learn to speak it with some proficiency. Sweat and blood was needed for language learning,” he recalled.

Indeed, when he was 48 years old, Kim began to learn English ― while in prison. This is a clear lesson for those who think it is too late to start learning English.

Kim’s relations with English newspapers date back to the early 1970s when he was detained under the iron-fisted Park Chunghee military government.

There are actually a few episodes involving Kim and English dailies.

In July 1978, Kim, then a government dissident, was confined to a hospital room under tight guard upon being released from prison after a guilty verdict was handed down for his role in the “March 1 Declaration for Democracy” of dissident intellectuals in 1976.

In a note ― inscribed with a nail on a piece of scrap paper ― that was secretly delivered to his wife, Kim said, “Please send me half a page of The Korea Times, editorials of two other vernacular newspapers, The Hankook Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, articles of American and Japanese correspondents stationed in Korea as well as major economic newspapers.”

The note, released by Chong Wa Dae while Kim was in office, was on display in Stockholm along with other personal effects of 30 other Nobel Peace Prize recipients.

Kim often recalled how much he owed to English dailies during the time when his political activities were restricted by the military governments’ tightened gag.

In a sense, English dailies were able to sophisticatedly dodge interventions by government media controllers, thus playing an important role in allowing the outside world to have a wider understanding of what was going on in South Korea under the iron hands of dictators.

Kim’s activities for democratic struggles were better known to the outside through English media reports, through which he was able to maintain his reputation as a democratic leader.

Reading The Korea Times became a part of routine life for him. “When he awoke every day, he would first pick up a copy of The Korea Times to see what was going on around, within, and outside the country,” recalls Kim Hyoung-min, who was a presidential secretary for protocol and interpretation, and who was a senior managing director and head of human resources and communications of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB).

In particular, Kim asked Cabinet members to utilize English dailies in a more positive manner, so that foreigners could have a correct understanding of Korea’s circumstances during the so-called era of financial crisis when the country was under the management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Kim managed to successfully ride out the financial crisis, which pushed the nation close to national bankruptcy amid foreign creditors’ calls for repayment of dollarbased loans in the face of dried-up foreign exchange holdings. His open-minded, globalized statesmanship, coupled with his linguistic talents, was a major tool in bailing the near-bankrupt nation out of the mire of crisis. He was the right man at the right time.

I distinctly remember him as a grand old friend to English-language newspapermen. His demise is lamented as an immense loss to English-language media and the nation.

He was not only a statesman. He was more. I miss him dearly.

May his soul rest in peace!

The writer is a media professor at Kyung Hee University. He was formerly a managing editor of The Korea Times.