[KS] Gwageo cheongsan (Kwageon ch'eongsan)

[Ted Han]

I hope the following questions do not cause more confusions. My questions 
are,  Why do the Koreans want to do "Gwageo cheongsan (Kwageo ch'eongsan)"? 
Of course, this is to correct the past and find the truth in Korean 
history/histography. This assumes that those who try to correct the past 
have moral/political/historical superiority to those who are to be examined 
and possibly judged. What kind of legitimacy do they have to judge who's 
who? What are they going to do after they find out the truth in history? Can 
they handle the "truth"? (Quote from Jack Nicholson).

The Koreans argue that ch'eongsan has never been done correctly and 
satifactorily. How much and what kind of ch'eongsan are we talking about? 
How would you do that?

If whole purpose of Kwageo Ch'eongsan is not to reteat history and build a 
better society, Kwageo Ch'eongsan is not a prerequisite but send us back to 
a conflict mode of Korean history. Preoccupation with the past generates 
historical determinism, and it is going to haunt the present and future. 
Korea's present and future are more important than the past. It will be more 
productive to build a better society which does not need to correct or 
"clean." Kwageo Ch'eongsan may be helpful, but more priority has to be given 
to what should be done now and future.

T. Taehwan Han

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