My Salute to the Late Nobel Peace Laureate
By Prabhat K. Mukherjee
CALGARY ― In December 1997, I joined Hyundai Heavy Industries in the city of Ulsan to work for their Offshore Engineering Division.
When I left my job and headed for Korea from India, I had just heard that the country was suffering from a huge financial crisis and had taken loans from the International Monetary Fund of over $53 billion.
A few years back we saw India plunging into a similar crisis and the Indian government taking a loan of $2.3 billion from the IMF. The difference in the loan amounts looked scary to me.
The magnitude of the crisis in Korea appeared to me and my friends in India, in that proportion. Many of my colleagues were advising me not to go to Korea at that moment.
But I headed on despite their reservations. When I reached Korea, I heard that long-time opposition leader Kim Dae-jung had just won the presidential election, winning 40.3 percent of the vote.
I knew his name as I had been present in Korea during a business trip earlier when President Kim Young-Sam defeated him in the previous election.
I had learnt from my Korean friends that he was a very talented orator. Kim could command unwavering loyalty among his supporters.
His staunchest support came from the Jeolla region, the place which I visited over the next few years multiple times because of the scenic beauty of the region.
I heard from Koreans that all past presidents came from the relatively wealthy Gyeongsang region.
Kim was the first president to serve out his full term who came from the Jeolla region which was known as the ``food basket'' of Korea.?
When Kim was inaugurated in 1998 as the president, it really marked the first transition of power from the ruling to the opposition party in Korea's modern history.
Taking over the government in the midst of an unprecedented financial crisis, President Kim devoted himself to the task of economic recovery.
We saw Korea through this financial crisis in person. The word IMF became a hated word in Korea for those who were suffering immensely.
I was hearing about suicides by small businessmen and women because they were not getting loans from the banks. The Hyundai car factory saw the biggest stand-off, with sacked workers seizing the premises of the factory in Ulsan.
We used to see a large contingent of police forces standing outside the factory gate ready to enter the premises anytime. The crisis melted after the intervention of President Kim.
He also managed to pull the country back from the brink of bankruptcy. Reforms and restructuring were initiated in his administration and the country paid off the IMF loan earlier than the scheduled date of payment. Soon Koreans started to love the word ``IMF,'' they called it ``I am fine.''
I was also witness to the Sunshine Policy that he was pursuing at that time with North Korea. President Kim's vision for the Korean people led him to pursue a policy of engagement.
He and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il worked together on a joint declaration, which they signed on June 15, 2000, paving the way for a brighter future for all Koreans and for the meeting of people and relatives of the two countries separated by their fratricidal war.
The day when the ceremony was shown on TV, I had some Korean friends over for dinner at my home in Ulsan.
They were all very emotional. I had just said to them that it appeared to me certain that President Kim would win a Nobel Prize for this effort.
This proved to be prophetic, as, soon after this, he received the coveted award. Earlier, when I visited Hyundai's headquarters in Gaedong, Seoul, I happened to meet the senior Chung Ju-yung of Hyundai who was just returning from his trip to North Korea during which he donated a large number of cows to the area from where he came to South Korea. It was his support that saw the Sunshine Policy of President Kim succeed.
However, this effort was marred by allegations that the summit was as a result of an alleged payment of $500 million to the North Korean leader. I also was a witness to the tragic event of Chung's fifth son committing suicide a few years later when the inquiry on this payment issue was bothering Hyundai.
During my nine-year tenure in Korea, I saw two presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, both present a departure from Korea's traditional politics. And both of them departed from this world in quick succession. They have definitely left an indelible impression on the people of Korea and on me.
The writer worked as a senior Hyundai Shipbuilding engineer. He has been a regular contributor to the Thoughts of The Times section. He can be reached at prabhat1@telus.net.