[KS] to the moderators

[Ruediger Frank]

Dear Vladimir and all,

I think it is indeed important that we do not remain silent about this issue.

I know Prof. Song a bit, since he spent some time as a visiting
professor at Humboldt University, back in the good old days when there
was a Korea Institute there. What I know of him is that he is a typical
intellectual, thinking and wracking his brain a lot, constantly
challenging and questioning himself, with a strong affection for German
and French philosophers I myself have a hard time to comprehend, and
with a strong love for his country.  But we may not be in a position to
question the correctness of the allegations made against him, since they
might well be true in a technical sense. Who knows.

However, and this is the issue here, something must have gone wrong, again
in a purely technical/legal sense. He was well aware of the difficulties
awaiting him upon return to South Korea, which is why he did not do so
right after Kim DJ took over in 1998, and why he stopped short of going to
Korea last year. That he went to Seoul now leads me and others to believe
that he was probably given assurances that are not kept. It also raises the
big issue of how to deal with people who have been close to the regime in
NK. The current procedure makes me shiver with regard to a unification. I
am sure many members of the North Korean elite are watching his case with
great interest; what has happened so far will not quite encourage them to
follow Prof. Song's example. The conservatives in SK must understand that
by being tough on Prof. Song, they in fact help stabilizing the regime in
the North.

As a matter of fact, in a democracy, rules and laws have to be obeyed.
Backdoor deals to circumvent these rules are the wrong way, and hence the
harsh stand of SK government and prosecution has to be respected. However,
the president in SK has a lot of powers - among them the right to grant an
amnesty (just think of Chun DH and Roh TW). Trying and sentencing Prof.
Song first and granting amnesty later to me looks like a betrayal of the
public and will reduce trust in democratic legal institutions.

Courage and transparency, i.e. a well defined and formulated general
amnesty to all those who have cooperated with NK or otherwise violated the
National Security Law NOW, based on a public debate and including the
considerations of all parties, seems to be a better way to deal with this
issue. I think this is what we should suggest to our friends and colleagues
in Korea, both in the name of justice, in the interest of Korea's
reputation in the world, and for the sake of the future of inner-Korean
relations.

Respectfully,

Ruediger Frank

***********
Dr. Ruediger Frank
Visiting Professor
University of Vienna
East Asian Institute, Japan/Korea
Spitalgasse 2-4
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
phone:	+43-1-4277 43822
fax:		+43-1-4277 9438
email:	rfrank at koreanstudies.de
************