[Editorial] Joining Together to Grieve State Violence

The truth about the murder of ‘Suzie Kim’ has finally come out after fourteen years. The Public Prosecutors Office discovered that in 1987, the National Intelligence Service knew that it was a murder case but covered it up as an anti-republic case. As the years passed, her mother passed away under the shame of the family being labeled as spies, and both her older sister and brother died after appealing for their younger sister`s exoneration. Even after the prosecutors office detained live-in partner Yoon Tae-Sik as a murder suspect, the false charge against Suzie Kim as a `North Korean tool` has not been officially removed.

The case demands a reexamination of what the nation and law, morality and human rights really mean. According to the case findings, this was an instance of `state violence` committed in the name of national security in order to maintain power. What compensation could possibly be made to an individual whose human rights were appallingly violated and the family who had to suffer under the monopoly of the powerful during the violent era of power politics? In spite of this, Chang Sae-Dong, then head of the NIS, was not even indicted because the official time period for arraignment had passed.

In 1987, the NIS found out about Mr. Yoon`s intent to defect voluntarily to the North. Yet, the NIS officially claimed that he had `escaped from Northern kidnapping and fled`, even though he was rejected by the North Korean embassy. They even held a press conference for the announcement. Even when Suzie Kim`s body appeared two weeks later, they should have reveled the whole story and prosecuted Mr. Yoon. The NIS, however, fabricated a cover-up story while the Fifth Republic at its last breath was being pushed into the corner by the opposition party`s drive to amend the constitution, and the story about Park Jong-Chul`s torture leaked out. It was the NIS who pressured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create this `anti-republic` story.

As a result of the mess in 1987, former NIS chief of republic investigations Kim Seung-Il and former head of the Police Department Lee Moo-Young were arrested last year. While Suzie Kim`s soul wept, Mr. Yoon served his sentence for charges of fraud and started as a venture capital businessman. We take to heart our failing as journalists to examine thoroughly this heinous case of state violence from the start. We are determined never to make this kind of mistake again.

Virtue is keeping the principles and commonsense needed in society, while law is the minimal standard of virtue. This case forces us to reflect on the basis of a state built on laws and demands that we thoroughly examine whether there are any other cases that point to the sin of state violence. This is the only way to appease Suzie Kim`s soul and share in the terrible sacrifice and suffering of her family.