Pardon Recommended for Activist Jo

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

A state-run fact-finding panel Thursday recommended the government to make an official apology, and pardon and honor the late Jo Bong-am (1898-1956), an independence activist who was wrongfully executed in 1959. It also called for compensation to be awarded to his surviving family members.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said the fact that Jo won more than two million votes in the presidential election of 1956 made him a threat to the Syngman Rhee regime and the then president may have used his influence to get his rival sentenced to death. ``It was a human rights infringement and political coercion,'' the commission stated.

Jo was an independence fighter, who later battled Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea in the 1950s, politically. He was elected a member of parliament, and became the first agricultural minister and also vice speaker of the National Assembly.

Jo was arrested in 1958 on alleged espionage charges, which accused him of receiving money from the North Korean government. Military investigators at the time announced they had secured enough evidence to prove his guilt and Jo was sentenced to death. He was executed on July 31, 1959, the day after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

The commission said the court came to its decision without seeing sufficient evidence, only relying on the testimony of the investigators.

Also, it was later revealed that despite the military having no legal power, its investigators had conducted the questioning of witnesses who were forced to make statements about Jo.

``It has taken too much time, but the truth finally found its way out,'' Jo's daughter Ho-jeong said welcoming the recommendation.

The commission also advised the government to designate Jo as person of distinguished services to independence, which will give financial benefits to his descendents.

The commission was established in December 2005 as part of the Roh Moo-hyun administration's drive to review the country's modern history. Song Ki-in, a Catholic monk and professor at Donga University, chairs the panel.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr

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