Park Chung-hee: From Poverty to Power. Book Review

In an easy, conversational style, Korean-American political scientist Chong Sik Lee attempts to analyse controversial President Park Chung-hee. The man who is famous for leading the country through a period of incredible economic growth. During ‘the miracle on the Han River’) per capita income expanded from $100 to $20,000 within an adult’s lifetime. Wow!

Park Chung-hee: From Poverty to Power (KHU Press) is a biography of the early years of President Park Chung Hee (1917-1979) who took over the presidency in a coup and ruled for 18 years from 1961 to his assassination in 1979. (He’s also the father of now imprisoned former president Park Geun Hye) 

Why was Park Chung-hee so controversial?

He was accused of being a traitor who collaborated with the Japanese. And then he was arrested for being a ‘communist’.

And although he is credited with turning Korea from one of the poorest countries in the world to a leading economy of the world, he has been criticised for disregarding human rights.

According to the writer, Park Chung-hee was influenced by Japan including its sense of national identity and he ‘set out to not only reform the Korean economy and its landscape, but also its ‘national character’.

related book reviews:

The Dwarf  – the most important novel of the post-war period deals with the changes of life in the 1970s in Seoul.
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness reveals factory life for women in the 70s and 80s.

This is a pro-Park Chung Hee book

The writer delves into the complicated thoughts and emotions of those brought up and educated in an occupied country. And that is the fascinating part of this book.

He acknowledges that Park Chung-hee didn’t see Japan as the enemy despite growing up during the occupation. He points out several reasons for this. According to him, Park Chung-hee was only guilty of being a ‘cold, calculating realist’.

OVERVIEW

This book is not about his achievements once he became president. (there’s a brief epilogue that covers his 18-year leadership) It’s a biography of the man up until 1961 when, frustrated with the president at the time Rhee Syngman (and Korean leadership in general) he overthrew the government in a coup and instituted a Junta government.  

The book takes us through all the stages of his life up until the coup: poor childhood, education under Japanese rule, marriage, teaching experience in the Korean countryside, military training in Japan and finally the aftermath of liberation and decision to take the presidency!

One of the main questions in the book is why Park Chung-hee’s speeches were so critical of Korea. The writer can understand him complaining about the corruption and dictatorship of the previous Rhee administration. But why does he go further than that and lambast the WHOLE of Korean history too?

He attempts to answer this question by looking at Park Chung-hee’s poor upbringing, his heroes, and the influence of Japan on his life. 

Interesting fact: Park Chung-hee ordered the statue of Yi Sun Shin (one of his heroes) which stands in Gwanghwamun. (below left)

A poor childhood  

Poverty had a lot to do with it. Park Chung-hee was short and small and blamed this on childhood poverty. His father was a yangban aristocrat but after he was arrested for being a leader in Tonghak (an anti-government movement) he was disinherited. From then on his father drank and his mother brought up the children in a village where no one had electricity, running water, or a clock.

And so Park Chung-hee became aware of the wealth gap in the country. And he realised that only aristocrats enjoyed life under Korean leadership. (just watch Korean historical dramas to see this!)

The Influence of Japan

The writer, who was also brought up under Japanese control, spends a good portion of the book defending Park’s positive outlook towards the Japanese rulers.

He points out that people brought up in the Japanese education system repeated their allegiance to Japan every morning at school and this affected them – they didn’t question it.

He also points out that the policies of the Japanese rulers changed over time. Those who experienced the early period were more likely to be anti-Japan. But Park Chung-hee went to school during the middle period, so had a more positive and liberal experience. And as a poor child, he was able to get an education during the occupation that would not have been possible before. He enjoyed the military drills enforced by the Japanese school system and stood out at the Japanese military academy.

***

It is a fascinating biography of a complicated man. But there are assumptions and presumptions throughout the book as the writer himself points out that he didn’t talk to the man directly. So he relies on the evidence of others who did know him. And when there is no actual evidence he must resort to making an educated guess. Still, the book is successful in showing us more about the mind of President Park Chung-hee.

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