[Opinion] The Korean Liberation Front

The “Preparatory Committee of the Liberation Line for South Joseon Nationals” is called, in short, “Namminjeon” in Korean. It is an underground organization that initiated the notoriously shocking “Viet Cong-style,” also known as the “Vietnamese communists-style self-growing communism” scandal just prior to the October 26, 1979 incident. A Korean poet, Kim Nam-ju (died in 1994), provided some theoretical framework for it, and is still admired by leftist intellectuals and college students as a “poet of resistance poetry” and a “revolutionary poet.” He was a so-called “militant” who “spread the revolutionary strategies of communism” by publishing a periodical of Namminjeon, “Voice of the People.” When he died, he was buried in Mangwol-dong, Gwangju. His motto was: “Poetry is a literary means to prepare for a revolution, and the poet, a militant.”

“Because of utter ignorance / the landlord mocked the servant./ Then the servant cut the landlord’s throat / with the scythe.” His poem, “The Scythe,” triggered class strife. Namminjeon categorized the social classes into seven groups: the privileged class, plutocrats, capitalists, the middle class, the grassroots, farmers and the jobless. It then called those above the middle class as “the enemy of the masses” and called itself “advance guards.” Its strategy was essentially to achieve a socialist revolution by forming the People’s Liberation Army, which was triggered by arousing the grassroots uprising. Its means were the urban guerilla activities. The number arrested on these charges was 84.

The Supreme Court convincingly ruled that Namminjeon was an “anti-national organization.” Those associated with it were either sentenced to death, life imprisonment or 15 years in prison. But as of this past March, 42 of them were recognized as “those associated with democratic movements,” and regained their “honor.” In addition, three of them, including the cadre, were even offered 50 million won grants, respectively. Then what about last week’s announcement made by the National Police Agency’s Korea Truth Commission, that stated, “Namminjeon is an anti-national organization that worshiped North Korea and tried to have links with the North?” This is such an irony.

Choi Won-suk, the former chairman of the Dong-A group, as well as other plutocrats, were deprived of their precious jewelry by the organization, and guns were even stolen from the training camp for reserved troops. One official of the Advisory Committee on Democratic Movements even said, “They had no choice but to do so to continue doing their work under the dismally violent circumstance.” Is he trying to regard them as anti-Japanese activists such as the Korean patriot Ahn Jung-geun? The National Security Law is non-existent now that compensations go to having communist beliefs and serving the enemy’s interests.

Yook Jeong-soo, Editorial Writer, sooya@donga.com