Like Korea-Like Nigeria: Story of Presidents (Park Chung-Hee & Park Guen Hye

Park Chung-Hee (Korean: 박정희; 14 November 1917–26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the leader of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979 ruling as a de facto military dictator from 1961 to 1963, then as the country’s de jure third President from 1963 to 1979.

He first came to power after leading a military coup in 1961, which brought an end to the interim government of the Second Republic. After serving for two years as chairman of the military junta, the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, he was elected president in 1963, ushering in the Third Republic.

According to Gallup (company) Korea 40% of South Koreans see Park as the best president.

The beginning of the intrigues here is that He was assassinated by people close to him. And even in a safe house.

Park had survived several assassination attempts (one of which killed his wife in 1974).

Following the student uprising later known as the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests, Park was assassinated on 26 October 1979 by his close friend Kim Jae-gyu, the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, at a safe house in Seoul. Cha Ji-chul, chief of the Presidential Security Service, was also fatally shot by Kim. Kim and his accomplices were tortured, convicted and executed for the assassination.

His administration was and is responsible for the rapid growth of Korea till tomorrow for he was known to have championed what was called “The Miracle of the Han river,” which reduced poverty level in South Korea from 66% to 10%* within a short time.

Another intriguing fact was that although popular during the 1960s, by the 1970s, Park’s popularity started to plateau.

This resulted in closer than expected victories during the 1971 South Korean presidential election and the subsequent legislative elections. Following this, in 1972, Park declared martial law and amended the constitution into a highly authoritarian document, called the Yushin Constitution, ushering in the Fourth Republic. During this time, political opposition and dissent was constantly repressed and Park had complete control of the military, and much control over the media.

Fast forward to 2016, and Park Geun Hye (Park Chang Hee’s daughter) has become president and is about to be impeached as a result of the handiwork of her aide Choi Soon-sil.

According to observations, what commenced the -blowing of air into the yansh- of their secret was the sad event of the “Sinking of the MV SEWOL in 2014.”

The sinking of MV Sewol (Korean: 세월호 침몰 사고), also called the Sewol ferry disaster, occurred on the morning of 16 April 2014, when the ferry MV Sewol was en route from Incheon towards Jeju in South Korea. The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi) north of Byeongpungdo at 08:58 KST (23:58 UTC, 15 April 2014). Out of 476 passengers and crew, 304 died in the disaster, including around 250 students from Danwon High School (Ansan City). Of the approximately 172 survivors, more than half were rescued by fishing boats and other commercial vessels that arrived at the scene approximately forty minutes before the Korea Coast Guard (KCG).

What really aggravated the issue was that the sinking of Sewol resulted in widespread social and political reaction within South Korea.

Many criticized the actions of the administration of President Park Geun-hye for her response to the disaster and attempts to downplay government culpability, and the KCG for its poor handling of the disaster, and the perceived passivity of the rescue-boat crew on scene.

Outrage has also been expressed against the initial false reporting of the disaster by the government and South Korean media, who claimed everyone aboard had been rescued and against the government for prioritizing public image over the lives of its citizens in refusing help from other countries and publicly downplaying the severity of the disaster.

Anyone that knows Korea knows they don’t play with human or even animal life.

This disaster has sparked both national and international debate about the South Korean “culture of obedience.”

As Choi Soon-sil In 2016 was involved in a scandal that alleged that she was responsible for masterminding governmental policy and decision-making during Park’s administration.

After these allegations arose, prosecutors ordered raids on offices and homes linked to Choi, where further evidence to support the claims were found.

It is also alleged that Choi ordered Korean prosecutors to indict Japanese journalist Tatsuya Kato, Seoul Bureau chief of Sankei Shimbun, on defamation charges after he reported that President Park and Chung Yoon-hoi had a secret seven-hour meeting with Choi after the sinking of MV Sewol during an extended period after the sinking in which President Park could not be contacted.

From most of recent political history, Japan and Korea do not have a Romeo and Juliet kind of relationship, thus the report of the Japanese journalist is of course damning to the administration trying to save its face even though the report was true.

On October 31, 2016, Choi met with prosecutors. Choi told reporters, “Please, forgive me. I’m sorry. I committed a sin that deserves death”. On November 20, Choi Soon-sil was officially charged by the prosecutors for intervening in state affairs and using her influence to force chaebols to donate tens of millions of dollars to foundations and businesses she controlled.

A chaebol (/ˈtʃeɪbɒl, ˈdʒɛbəl/,] Korean: 재벌; lit. “rich family”) is a large industrial conglomerate that is run and controlled by a person or family in South Korea.

On 23 June 2017, the Seoul Central District Court found Choi guilty of charges of obstruction of duty by using her presidential ties to get her daughter admitted to Ewha Womans University and receive good grades, and sentenced her to three years of imprisonment. On 13 February 2018, the Seoul Central District Court found Choi guilty of charges of abuse of power, bribery, and interfering in government business, which extended her prison sentence by 20 years and ordered her to pay a fine of ₩18 billion (US$16.6 million).

A plot twist here!

On 9 December 2016, Park was impeached by the National Assembly on charges related to influence peddling by her top aide, Choi Soon-sil.

The Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment by a unanimous 8–0 ruling on 10 March 2017, thereby removing Park from office, making her the first Korean president to be so removed.

On 6 April 2018, South Korean courts sentenced her to *24 years in prison (later increased to 25 years)* for corruption and abuse of power.

*Park is currently imprisoned at Seoul Detention Center.*

In 2018, two separate criminal cases resulted in an increase of seven years in Park’s prison sentence. She was found guilty of illegally taking off-the-book funds from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and given a five-year prison sentence, and also found guilty of illegally interfering in the Liberty Korea Party primaries in the 2016 South Korean legislative election, for which she was sentenced to two more years in prison.

Note:

Despite the giant strides the father of the impeached and imprisoned presidents for the country, they never dimmed it fit to excuse her daughter from her complacencies. Complacencies that was carried out by her aide.

Until Nigerian anticorruption and judicial system is this more harsh on leaders would we have the Nigeria we all demand.

This is a call to every Nigerian out there that we have a role to play in our nation building. Do not say because it is your father, son, mother, sister, friend and you apportion what doesn’t belong to them to them.

We all would one day give account of our deeds.

God bless our country!

- Ashraf Akintola

Using words to save the world!

Ashakintola@gmail.com