Ding Dong Daeng!

A post over at Buddae Chiggae turnedme on to this excellent article on the problems of the South Korean liberals from Sogang University Professor Shin Ji-ho.



A snippet that I thought was most interesting:

Q: You’ve also claimed that the progressive intellectuals, including those politicians with NL faction backgrounds, who have participated in the current administration were “split-ego patients.

These are people who completely deny the fact proven by world history -- that ‘industrialization-first, democratization second’ was the right way to go. They show contempt for industrialization and economic development, claiming that while it’s important to eat, what’s more important is democracy and human rights. Yet when you ask them about the North Korean human rights issue, they say the most important human right is the right to survival, and employ the logic of, ‘Mustn’t North Koreans first make an existence for themselves? Wouldn’t it be O.K. for democracy and human rights to come later?’ The logic they applied to past authoritarian regimes in South Korea and the one they apply to the totalitarian regime in North Korea are contradictory 180 degrees.


The hypocrisy of the Korean left exposed, and it ain't pretty. Here's more:

Prof. Shin called Korea’s current political landscape an “anachronistic alliance of 20th century ultra-conservatism.” He said Korea’s central political axis is made up of the Uri Party’s ultra-conservative leftists who will share in North Korea’s fate, the ultra-conservative rightists of the Grand National Party who have yet to get their heads straight, and the reactionary leftists of the Democratic Labor Party who are trying to turn the wheel of history backwards. He said, “In order to set Korean politics straight, we need a conservative revolution in which a reformed conservatism appears to replace the old ultra-conservatives.” Shin explained:

“Historically, we could evaluate the Park Chung-hee period well, but the Park Chung-hee model will not open the door to the era in which the nation enjoys a US$20,000 per capita income. Now, we must proceed along the model of liberalism, which emphasizes small government and civil vitality. For this, we need not a conservatism attached to simply vested interests without creed or content, but conservatism full of philosophy and soul. Only after this conservative revolution and an administration change to the right can the Korean left undergo sincere change.”

This is the kind of thinking and movement South Korea desperately needs. Hopefully, this kind of professor is more common than retards like this one.