Shrimp to Whale by Ramon Pacheco Pardo;

Author:Ramon Pacheco Pardo;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 1)
Published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

Building a more liberal society

Voted in with a mandate to enact more liberal politics and policies, Kim set about strengthening the rights of South Korean citizens vis-à-vis the state and other authorities. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Kim launched the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) in November 2001. An independent agency, it was tasked with protecting and improving the individual rights of South Koreans as well as helping safeguard the country’s democracy.23 The focus on individual human rights was deliberate. In the past, South Korean leaders had appealed to the common good of the country to justify the oppression of individual South Koreans. Furthermore, during the 1990s there had been a debate among leaders across Asia over whether the ‘Western’ values of democracy and individual human rights were suited to the supposedly ‘collectivist’ and ‘authoritarian’ Asian mindset. In a well-known article with the title ‘Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia’s Anti-Democratic Values’, Kim made clear that Asians—and by extension, (South) Koreans—also cherished their individual rights.24 Once in power, Kim sought to turn his words into action.

Over the next two decades, the NHRCK would go on to investigate and handle hundreds of thousands of counselling requests and tens of thousands of complaints.25 The commission was also instrumental in shaping South Korean policy through its opinions. Most notably, in April 2005 it issued an opinion supporting the elimination of capital punishment.26 Kim Dae-jung had enacted a moratorium on executions upon taking office. The NHRCK’s opinion gave further weight to this moratorium. Even though capital punishment continued to be legal in South Korea, executions were de facto abolished once Kim took office and the NHRCK issued its opinion.27 The commission’s opinions and investigations on a range of matters such as the right to conscientious objection to military service, the protection of irregular workers and human rights abuses in professional sports shaped debate in South Korea in the direction of greater individual freedoms—as well as towards holding the powerful accountable.

Kim also prioritized the reform of institutions and practices that his voters—and many other South Koreans—loathed. Top of the list was reform of the old ANSP, which twenty-five years earlier—when it was still known as the KCIA—had been within minutes of throwing him from a boat off the coast of Japan. Kim Young-sam had already introduced reforms to transform the ANSP into a more traditional intelligence gathering agency. In 1999, Kim renamed the agency as the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The NIS became accountable to the National Assembly, rather than the president alone. It also lost the power to make arrests without following legal procedures.28 Roh Moo-hyun would later introduce further reforms upon his election in 2003, eliminating many of the grounds for domestic intelligence surveillance—including suspected anti-communism—and transferring many other surveillance activities to the police forces.29

Kim also pressed ahead with changes to policing practices to move them away from their previous authoritarian and confrontational approach, which the new president had personally experienced during his time as an opposition activist. Anyone witnessing a

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