In 2004, several cases that pop up in South Korea had the similarity with the causes of the two tragic war incidents that happened 400 and 50 years ago, the lack of sensitivities of Korean government to detect emergency situation.
***
Once upon a time, several years before Japanese invasion to Korean peninsula at the end of 16th century, the King of Choseon Kingdom received an advice from an intelligent named Lee Yul-gok in order to prepare and train 100.000 troops for the Choseon Kingdom defense. At that time, King Sonjo and almost all of the royal senior figures underestimated this advice. However, after hearing the report about Japanese suspicion movements, the king began to feel very anxious. Finally he sent two special spies, Hwang Yun-gil and Kim Song-il, to observe the political situation in Japan.
After half of the year, the two spies came back from their duty in Japan. They came and reported what they was seen to King Sonjo. At that time, there has been a tradition in Korean to guess someone’s feeling or what he plan to do by only looking at his face (nunchi).
The first spy, Kim Song-il, reported what he has seen, “Majesty, when I saw Hideyoshi Toyotomi Emperor, I could see that he was very small and ugly. His eyes are like mouse eyes. He will not be dare to attack our kingdom. I did not see their signs for having preparations for war. You might not frightened, my Majesty”.
Nevertheless, other spy, Hwang Yun-gil, reported the very different thing, “Majesty, although Hideyoshi Emperor was small and ugly; he had sharp eyes and strong ambition. Honestly, based on my observation, I am really sure that Japan was having preparations to attack our kingdom”.
Hearing the two different reports, King Sonjo was very confused to make decision. Nevertheless, without re-checking on two spies’ report he tended to agree with senior staffs’ opinion in the defense and security department that prefer to Kim Song-il’s opinion.
What happened in the several years? Lee Yul-gok’s warning and information that was sent by Hwang Yun-gil that Japan would attack Korea became real. During 1592, Japanese Hideyoshi Toyotomi Emperor attacked Korea with 700.000 troops, 700 warships, and complete war equipment. The Choseon royal troops that were not prepared to face the sudden attack, should be surrendered. On the other hand, the success of Hideyoshi troop’s subjugated Choseon Kingdom is their success in gathering and processing the information on domestic situation in Korea.
Around 350 years later, before the outbreak of Korean War (1950-1953) the tense situation that covered Korean peninsula that was divided by two ideologies, the communist of North Korea and the democratic of South Korea. South Korean government that was led by Lee Seung-man President revealed statements in mass media that North Korean communist troops were not possible to attack South Korea. This statement is different with the actual situation. On June 25th 1950, before the dawn broke, around 135.000 North Korean troops succeeded in crossing the border of two countries and attacking South Korea. The great civil war happened for three years and ended with armistice. This war was very tragic because it cracked Korean peninsula became two countries and dispersed Koreans that was previously one nation and one relative.
What was so important from the two war stories in this Korean history? Both King Sonjo and President Lee Seung-man government ignored the reality how critical the Korean situation was at the time. Both of them did not have sense of crisis about the possibility of danger that could strike their country and their people. This attitude was really regretted because has brought fatal result. The Korean people had extraordinary physical and psychological suffering in wartime with Hideyoshi Emperor Troops or in the Korean War, and also in the cold war.
In 2004, several cases that pop up in South Korea had the similarity with the causes of the two tragic war incidents that happened 400 and 50 years ago, the lack of sensitivities of Korean government to detect emergency situation. This could be seen from the three cases. Firstly, president Roh Moo-Hyun statement in responding to the worsening of South Korean economics lately. Secondly, the lack of South Korean Foreign Department staff's in responding the lost of South Korean citizen in Iraq. Thirdly, the slowness of South Korean police work to responding the report on several citizens’ loss in Seoul that that had became the victims of the sequence killing.
In the first case, President Roh Moo-Hyun seemed to deny the reality that South Korean economy is in the crisis. The president did not care of the expert of economics’ opinion or considered about the survey results from the credible agency. For example, the results survey of Bank of Korea on 2.453 manufacture companies showed descended business index from 87 in April 2004 to 80 in May 2004. Then, the survey that was done by Korean International Trade Association (KITA) showed the index of export conviction decline from 135,2 in the first quarter 2004 to 126,4 in the second quarter. Moreover, the statistical data showed the height of unemployment level especially within the younger generations, the increasing of the amount of stalled credit, the decline of domestic request and overseas capital flight as the result of South Korean the uncertainty economic prospect.
Although this economic data has been enough to be proof that the economics in the emergency condition, in the last March, President Roh said, “although the Korean economics was being in the difficult situation, it could not be said that it was crisis” (The Korea Times, June 24th 2004). Moreover, the president accused the businessmen conspired to exaggerate the rumors. In this July and August, several months after President Roh's statement, economics articles in the newspaper reported that South Korean economics was changing from crisis to recession and even be in the doorstep of economic depression. If only President Roh's government realized that Korean economics in the serious situation, it could be prevented since the beginning.
Next, the tragic incident that struck Kim Sun-il could become an indicator on how bad the sense of crisis of South Korean government is. Kim Sun-il was killed in Iraq on June 23rd, 2004 after being kidnapped by one of the militant's groups and being imprisoned for around 3 weeks in June 2004. On June 3 rd, South Korean Foreign Department in Seoul received telephone from an Associated Press reporter who asked whether they lost a citizen was named Kim Sun-il in Iraq. The staff of South Korean Foreign Affairs Department that received this telephone did not confirm and investigate for more. It is fatal because they realized the crisis late that was dealt with Kim Sun-il. He could not be saved. Perhaps if Korean Foreign Affairs Department suspected to the contents of the conversation via telephone and holding further investigation, there must be much available time for negotiating Kim Sun-il’s liberation.
***
Once upon a time, several years before Japanese invasion to Korean peninsula at the end of 16th century, the King of Choseon Kingdom received an advice from an intelligent named Lee Yul-gok in order to prepare and train 100.000 troops for the Choseon Kingdom defense. At that time, King Sonjo and almost all of the royal senior figures underestimated this advice. However, after hearing the report about Japanese suspicion movements, the king began to feel very anxious. Finally he sent two special spies, Hwang Yun-gil and Kim Song-il, to observe the political situation in Japan.
After half of the year, the two spies came back from their duty in Japan. They came and reported what they was seen to King Sonjo. At that time, there has been a tradition in Korean to guess someone’s feeling or what he plan to do by only looking at his face (nunchi).
The first spy, Kim Song-il, reported what he has seen, “Majesty, when I saw Hideyoshi Toyotomi Emperor, I could see that he was very small and ugly. His eyes are like mouse eyes. He will not be dare to attack our kingdom. I did not see their signs for having preparations for war. You might not frightened, my Majesty”.
Nevertheless, other spy, Hwang Yun-gil, reported the very different thing, “Majesty, although Hideyoshi Emperor was small and ugly; he had sharp eyes and strong ambition. Honestly, based on my observation, I am really sure that Japan was having preparations to attack our kingdom”.
Hearing the two different reports, King Sonjo was very confused to make decision. Nevertheless, without re-checking on two spies’ report he tended to agree with senior staffs’ opinion in the defense and security department that prefer to Kim Song-il’s opinion.
What happened in the several years? Lee Yul-gok’s warning and information that was sent by Hwang Yun-gil that Japan would attack Korea became real. During 1592, Japanese Hideyoshi Toyotomi Emperor attacked Korea with 700.000 troops, 700 warships, and complete war equipment. The Choseon royal troops that were not prepared to face the sudden attack, should be surrendered. On the other hand, the success of Hideyoshi troop’s subjugated Choseon Kingdom is their success in gathering and processing the information on domestic situation in Korea.
Around 350 years later, before the outbreak of Korean War (1950-1953) the tense situation that covered Korean peninsula that was divided by two ideologies, the communist of North Korea and the democratic of South Korea. South Korean government that was led by Lee Seung-man President revealed statements in mass media that North Korean communist troops were not possible to attack South Korea. This statement is different with the actual situation. On June 25th 1950, before the dawn broke, around 135.000 North Korean troops succeeded in crossing the border of two countries and attacking South Korea. The great civil war happened for three years and ended with armistice. This war was very tragic because it cracked Korean peninsula became two countries and dispersed Koreans that was previously one nation and one relative.
What was so important from the two war stories in this Korean history? Both King Sonjo and President Lee Seung-man government ignored the reality how critical the Korean situation was at the time. Both of them did not have sense of crisis about the possibility of danger that could strike their country and their people. This attitude was really regretted because has brought fatal result. The Korean people had extraordinary physical and psychological suffering in wartime with Hideyoshi Emperor Troops or in the Korean War, and also in the cold war.
In 2004, several cases that pop up in South Korea had the similarity with the causes of the two tragic war incidents that happened 400 and 50 years ago, the lack of sensitivities of Korean government to detect emergency situation. This could be seen from the three cases. Firstly, president Roh Moo-Hyun statement in responding to the worsening of South Korean economics lately. Secondly, the lack of South Korean Foreign Department staff's in responding the lost of South Korean citizen in Iraq. Thirdly, the slowness of South Korean police work to responding the report on several citizens’ loss in Seoul that that had became the victims of the sequence killing.
In the first case, President Roh Moo-Hyun seemed to deny the reality that South Korean economy is in the crisis. The president did not care of the expert of economics’ opinion or considered about the survey results from the credible agency. For example, the results survey of Bank of Korea on 2.453 manufacture companies showed descended business index from 87 in April 2004 to 80 in May 2004. Then, the survey that was done by Korean International Trade Association (KITA) showed the index of export conviction decline from 135,2 in the first quarter 2004 to 126,4 in the second quarter. Moreover, the statistical data showed the height of unemployment level especially within the younger generations, the increasing of the amount of stalled credit, the decline of domestic request and overseas capital flight as the result of South Korean the uncertainty economic prospect.
Although this economic data has been enough to be proof that the economics in the emergency condition, in the last March, President Roh said, “although the Korean economics was being in the difficult situation, it could not be said that it was crisis” (The Korea Times, June 24th 2004). Moreover, the president accused the businessmen conspired to exaggerate the rumors. In this July and August, several months after President Roh's statement, economics articles in the newspaper reported that South Korean economics was changing from crisis to recession and even be in the doorstep of economic depression. If only President Roh's government realized that Korean economics in the serious situation, it could be prevented since the beginning.
Next, the tragic incident that struck Kim Sun-il could become an indicator on how bad the sense of crisis of South Korean government is. Kim Sun-il was killed in Iraq on June 23rd, 2004 after being kidnapped by one of the militant's groups and being imprisoned for around 3 weeks in June 2004. On June 3 rd, South Korean Foreign Department in Seoul received telephone from an Associated Press reporter who asked whether they lost a citizen was named Kim Sun-il in Iraq. The staff of South Korean Foreign Affairs Department that received this telephone did not confirm and investigate for more. It is fatal because they realized the crisis late that was dealt with Kim Sun-il. He could not be saved. Perhaps if Korean Foreign Affairs Department suspected to the contents of the conversation via telephone and holding further investigation, there must be much available time for negotiating Kim Sun-il’s liberation.
The last case to prove the inability of South Korean government apparatus in detecting danger that threatened the society was the case of sequence killing in Seoul. South Korean police received strong critics from the society because of their slowness in responding the report on the missing of several night worker women and Seoul citizens several months ago (Korea Times, July 21st 2003). Evidently, most of them who were reported lost became sequence-killing victims. Its killer was arrested unintentionally because of others case and after killing around 26 people. If only the police carried out an investigation on the report of the missing persons since the beginning, may be this sequence killing could be prevented.
The three cases above and examples of history incidents in the past were enough to make South Korean government realize the lack of their capacity to analyze and respond to the crisis or emergency can cause a very dangerous thing. The crisis or this emergence situation could become worst and even get victims. Not only the one or several people life, but also the life of all over the citizens one country was threatened by danger if their government no longer had sense of crisis. ***
On Heat and Humid Days of summer, Seoul, 23-24 July 2004
Pictures: General Hideyoshi Toyotomi (http://www2.hawaii/~sford/research/turtel/index.html)
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