Presidential cannibalism

By Mark Peterson

Several years ago I wrote an article about how Korea treats its former presidents, and noted that once they leave office bad things happen to them, and in some cases, bad things happen that cause them to leave office.

I concluded that the way presidents are treated is as if they are eaten, in effect, and I used the term "presidential cannibalism." I thought that the way Korean society treats their former presidents is not unlike the way some insects and animals in nature eat their young, or their spouse. Cannibalism ― eating one's own.

With the recent announcement that former President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to prison, I thought, "Here we go again!"

Perhaps we need to take a moment to look at the history of how Korea treats its presidents, and maybe draw a few conclusions. Perhaps Korea needs to look at finishing their democracy by finding a way to honor past presidents instead of "eating" them.

Korea has achieved a marvelous standard of democratization. I often tell my students and public audiences that Korea is more democratic than America! My evidence? For one thing, look at how university presidents are selected: In the U.S., selections are made by the board of trustees.

A state school has a board, a private school has a board, a church-sponsored school has a board ― the board makes the selection. But in Korea, presidents are elected from among the faculty by a vote of the faculty. That's unheard of among American universities.

So, Korea has clearly achieved a remarkable level of democratic practice ― except in the area of past presidents. And this is unfortunate, for the past president usually lives on for years and can provide advice and counsel to his successors. It was Jimmy Carter as past-president who visited Kim Il-sung and defused the North Korea nuclear tension back in 1994; we forget that Bill Clinton was about to bomb the nuclear production plant at Yongbyon.

But unfortunately, Korea dishonors its past-presidents and leaves them symbolically on the garbage heap of history, rather than honor them for their years of service.

Some presidents deserve dishonor, but I hope Korea can find a better way ― I hope Moon Jae-in doesn't run into the dishonoring process that almost all of his predecessors have faced. If Moon can survive, maybe there will be hope for all his successors.

Let's recap briefly the status of our former Korean presidents. Syngman Rhee was deposed after massive student demonstrations. He was old and delusional and perhaps, as some have said, it was all Yi Ki-bung's fault, his corrupt running mate, but nonetheless,

Rhee had to go. It was reported that he couldn't believe the people had turned on him. He wanted walk down the street as he left Cheong Wa Dae, and the people seeing the sad, old man (he was 85) would call out, "No, don't leave! Come back." But his advisors knew that would not happen and he was ushered out of the country against his will, and escorted to safety in Hawaii where he lived out his years (and died at age 90).

His successor, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated. His successor, Chun Doo-hwan, together with the next president, Roh Tae-woo, were incarcerated for crimes of financial mis-dealings as well as insurrection and the deaths in Gwangju.

Kim Young-sam was blamed for the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the mishandling of the economy and the depletion of gold and dollar reserves and is generally thought of as a failed president, although he was the first democratically elected president (although it can be argued that Roh's election was the first ― I'll leave that debate up to you).

Kim Dae-jung was perhaps the only exception to the rule of "presidential cannibalism" in that he, rather than prosecuting his predecessors, pardoned them. He pardoned the men who, as presidents, persecuted him ― Chun and Roh Tae-woo. He forgave them their misdeeds, released them from prison and met with them as past presidents. This was the only case of a president treating rivals with honor.

(Roh Tae-woo succeeded his same-party member, Chun, thus respected him as a past president; and Roh Moo-hyun succeed Kim as his same-party member, and thus respected him.)

But for a successor president who succeeded a rival, Kim Dae-jung was the only exception to the rule of "presidential cannibalism."

Roh Moo-hyun was accused of bribe-taking by his successor, Lee Myung-bak, and thus committed suicide by jumping off a rocky precipice overlooking his home village.

Lee was "safe" after being succeeded by Park Geun-hye, but now we see, that after Park's impeachment (read "cannibalism"), Lee has now been sentenced to prison.

That's my take on the way past-presidents are treated. But I've witnessed miraculous democratization in Korea over the last 53 years ― let's hope that the next miracle will be the honorable treatment of those who have served as the president of the country. Hope.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.