SOUTH KOREANS TAUGHT NORTH KOREAN IDEOLOGY

HatTip to Mingi. This is messed up. South Korean government employees were taught North Korean "Juche" ideology at a union meeting. And what will Roh's administration do? Nothing. Messed up!

Civil Servant Union Taught Members N. Korea Ideology
THE CHOSUN ILBO

It has been revealed that North's Korea's "Juche" ideology of self reliance was taught to some members of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), which has planned a general strike for Monday, as part of the union's education programs.

The problematic material was taught to union members at the first-ever Korean Government Employees' School, which was conducted from Sept. 2 in a condominium in Asan, South Chungcheong province. The KGEU said about 85 union members were taught there. The headmaster of the program was Kim Young-gil, head of the KGEU council, against whom an arrest warrant has recently been issued in connection with the union's moves toward a general strike.

Yoo Se-hwan, an official with the National Assembly secretariat, said through his Internet homepage (www.yoosehwan.com) on Thursday that National Alliance for Democratization and Reunification of Korea (NADRK) organizational committee head Park Se-gil's 27-page, "A Philosophy to Change the World; For A World Where the Masses Become Master," which Park taught to students during a union education program lecture, was North Korea's Juche ideology.

The union's educational materials from that time, including Park's piece, were still in the KGEU homepage's document material section, and participant photos containing scenes of the education sessions were also found on the website. The materials and Yoo's criticism spread through the Internet like wildfire, sparking debate among Internet users.

Yoo claimed, "If you exclude the fact that Park's writing doesn't explicitly mention the 'theory of the Leader,' other than that, it's almost precisely identical to North Korea's Juche ideology and strategy of encouraging revolution in the South." Specifically, he pointed out that pages 69-71 of the union's educational material was an unadulterated version of the Juche ideology's view of man, while page 76's "revolutionary masses line" was a direct copy of North Korea's reunification propaganda strategy that adheres to the "class" and "masses" lines.

The Chosun Ilbo asked Sogang University Graduate School of Public Policy professor Shin Ji-ho and Citizens United for a Better Society policy director Hong Jin-pyo, both of whom are experts in Juche ideology, to compare the materials uploaded on the KGEU homepage with "About Juche," which is believed to have been written by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 1982. Both men replied that while some of the terms and expressions had been changed, much of it was the same.

Park Se-gil, who wrote the piece in question, is a former activist who graduated from Seoul National University. He penned, "Re-writing Korea's Contemporary History," which is evaluated as the history text of the past activist circle's pro-Juche "National Liberation" faction.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said Friday they had begun analyzing the union's lecture material. Police said they have opened their own investigation separate from the prosecutors' into possible National Security Law violations.

Prosecutors obtained a copy of the material lectured to KGEU members by NADRK's Park Se-gil and are currently considering whether it constituted a violation of Article 7 of the National Security Law, which bans praise of North Korea. Prosecutors plan to call those involved in for investigation should they decide legal measures were necessary.

About the, the KGEU said in a statement, "Since we don't even know what 'Juche' ideology means, we don't know how such talk could arise... All we did is to get famous lecturers to come and listen to their lectures, but people are making up stories that our union members systematically adhere to the Juche ideology."