단상斷想

From the early 1960s to 1979, the Park Chung-hee regime recorded an average annual economic growth rate of over 10%, earning worldwide acclaim. However, behind the splendid growth indicators was a cruel structure of exploitation that sacrificed the majority of the people for the benefit of a small privileged class. The high growth of the Park Chung-hee regime, packaged as the "Miracle on the Han River," was a miracle for the remaining Japanese and the newly emerging pro-American faction. This was not a miracle, but an anti-democratic growth created by squeezing the blood and sweat of the majority of the people, and it became the original sin of structural inequality that continues to plague Korean society today. This benefit, even after several generations, has led Korea to not only economic inequality, but also the entire nation is degenerating into an ignorant, unthinking class, oblivious to history. Why not discuss Syngman Rhee? He should be discussed in connection with the Joseon royal family, so I'm leaving him out. I don't want to dare to easily mention that historical traitor.

Park Chung-hee's government's Five-Year Economic Development Plan was outwardly packaged as a blueprint for national development, but in reality, it was a treacherous policy of donating national resources to a few chaebol companies. The government poured astronomical amounts of financial support and various privileges to specific companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, Lucky Goldstar, and Daewoo under the plausible pretext of 'efficiency.' They exclusively provided incentives such as financial support, tax benefits, and foreign currency allocation under the pretext of excellent export performance, which was virtually the same as fostering aristocratic companies with the people's taxes. As a result, by the late 1970s, a deformed structure was completed in which the top 10 chaebols accounted for more than half of the total manufacturing sales. These chaebols monopolized the market without fair competition under the government's protection, and small and medium-sized enterprises were driven into a desperate situation where survival itself was impossible. The chaebols, which grew with the taxes paid by the people, grew into monsters that economically oppressed the people. Can this really be called a normal national policy?

Another sin of the Park Chung-hee regime was encouraging and condoning real estate speculation. The government's industrialization policy and development concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area led to a surge in land prices, and in this process, only a few with information and power made huge profits. Large-scale urban development projects, including the development of Gangnam, made a fortune for some landowners and speculative forces, but it was a nightmare that made ordinary people give up their dream of owning their own home forever. What is even more infuriating is the fact that government officials and political power elites directly participated in real estate speculation using prior information. Speculative transactions using internal information on development plans or policy changes were rampant, and as a result, class differentiation based on real estate ownership progressed rapidly.

The privilege that allowed high-ranking public officials to live in Joogong Apartments developed in the 1970s was due to the lack of awareness of original illegality and the absence of guilt in South Korea's real estate policy, which stems from the fact that the Japanese invasion was a territorial invasion. Someone was eliminated between taking and taking away, and the unjust act of seizing the dead's belongings was perpetrated among the living. With such ingrained habits, the government evaded responsibility by calling it a 'side effect of growth,' even after creating a desperate reality where ordinary people without a single house cannot afford to buy one even if they earn a lifetime. As a result, from this period, an extreme inequality structure took root in Korean society, where the top 10% of the population owns half of the total assets.

The real protagonists of economic growth were the workers who toiled day and night in factories, shedding blood and sweat. However, the Park Chung-hee regime regarded them not as partners in growth, but merely as objects of exploitation. The government thoroughly trampled on workers' rights and interests under the pretext of 'securing export competitiveness.' Labor union activities were not tolerated, and wage increases were suppressed to levels far below productivity improvements. Workers were not able to enjoy the fruits of economic growth at all, and were only used to fatten the bellies of the chaebols. As the labor income share continued to decline, the lives of working people became more difficult, and despite economic growth, the real income of ordinary people remained stagnant. This was a clear betrayal of the workers and a shameless act by the privileged class who monopolized the benefits of growth.

The growth policies of the Park Chung-hee regime were focused only on urban and industrial sectors, and rural areas were completely neglected. Investment in agriculture and rural areas was woefully inadequate, and farmers became scapegoats for urban development. Many rural youths left their hometowns and flowed into the cities to provide cheap labor, but the treatment they received was inhumane and there was no social safety net at all. The income gap between urban and rural areas widened, and rural areas became increasingly devastated. The government justified this with the logic of 'selection and concentration,' but this ultimately meant abandoning the balanced development of the country and ignoring the right to survival of farmers. The government's irresponsibility in neglecting the collapse of rural areas and the degradation of farmers into urban poor cannot be forgiven.

As the concentration of wealth intensifies, the consumption capacity of the low-income class has shrunk drastically. As wealth is concentrated in the upper class with a low marginal propensity to consume, consumption in the overall economy shrinks and the domestic market faces growth limitations. This was an inevitable result of the Park Chung-hee regime's short-sighted growth policies. The slowdown in growth rates that began in the late 1970s was a natural consequence of these structural contradictions. Instead of solving this problem, the government consistently poured more privileges to conglomerates. Even though they knew that sustainable growth was difficult without fundamental improvements in the distribution structure, they were only interested in protecting the interests of the privileged class. This was an irresponsible policy that jeopardized the future of the national economy.

Economic inequality led to inequality in educational opportunities, which accelerated class entrenchment. In a situation where higher education opportunities were limited, only the economically affluent class could provide quality education to their children. Children from poor families were deprived of educational opportunities, no matter how talented they were, which resulted in fundamentally blocking social mobility. The government advocated 'equal opportunity for education,' but in reality, it neglected and blocked an education system that only children from wealthy families could enjoy. This was a trampling of the right to education guaranteed by the Constitution, and an anti-social policy that wasted the nation's capabilities and potential. As the class structure solidified, the saying "a dragon rises from a small stream" changed to an environment where even loaches in small streams could not grow.

The collusive ties between politics and business under the Park Chung-hee regime, where preferential treatment was given to conglomerates and conglomerates provided funds to politicians, became openly corrupt, and fair market competition disappeared, with political alignment becoming the core of economic activity. Various illegal and unlawful acts, such as real estate speculation, unfair trade, and preferential loans, were carried out with the government's tacit consent. The privileged class mocked the law and principles and accumulated wealth through unjust means, which led to moral decay throughout society. As a result of the government taking the lead in fostering corruption, public trust in the government plummeted.

Park Chung-hee was a trigger of regional animosity who concentrated industrialization policies in specific regions, applying the lingering sentiments of the past colonial rule as is. This was the same for Chun Doo-hwan, and the two military dictatorships caused severe regional imbalances. Investment was concentrated only in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas, and some industrial cities, which intensified the gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas, and between Yeongnam and Honam. In particular, the Honam region was intentionally alienated, which resulted in deepening regional animosity and political confrontation. The imbalance between regions has developed into a serious social problem that goes beyond simple economic disparity and harms national unity. Originally, Honam was a region with max-level combat power that spewed out an unbearable anti-Japanese spirit from Donghak to the Righteous Army. However, not satisfied with the division of North and South Korea, they abandoned the balanced development of the country and implemented discriminatory policies that favored only certain regions, which was an anti-constitutional behavior that discriminated against the people by region. The roots of regional animosity were formed during this period, and it remains a long-standing wound in Korean society to this day.

The Park Chung-hee regime's value of 'growth is the only virtue' drove Korean society into a barbaric state. The guilty government covered up small sins with bigger sins, and under the name of economic growth, the entire nation abandoned all values for a decent life, such as distributive justice, protection of the socially vulnerable, and environmental conservation. The people were truly trampled upon as bullets of 'The Dwarf'. The people were treated as tools that existed only for the sake of growth figures, and quality of life or happiness was not even considered. This growth-at-all-costs mentality was a direct continuation of the Japanese colonial exploitation, and both corporations and public officials participated. The spread of materialism and mammonism throughout society spread the upper class's dirty deeds such as drugs, gambling, and prostitution into underground businesses. Money could excuse everything, and a vulgar culture took root where any means were justified for success. This destroyed the spiritual foundation of Korean society and led to the disintegration of community consciousness. It became a country where illegitimate 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations run rampant.

The high growth of the Park Chung-hee regime was an unforgivable historical mistake that betrayed the people and trampled on social justice through anti-democratic and anti-human policies that sacrificed the majority of the people for the benefit of a small privileged class. It was a policy that abandoned the people in all aspects, including preferential treatment for conglomerates, encouragement of real estate speculation, oppression of workers, abandonment of rural areas, educational inequality, collusion between politics and business, and regional discrimination. The problems that Korean society is currently experiencing, such as polarization, class fixation, regional conflict, and political distrust, are all rooted in this period.

True national development should mean that all citizens prosper together. Growth that only benefits a few and sacrifices the majority is not growth, but exploitation. Stop glorifying and praising the rapid growth of the Park Chung-hee regime. The rich want a world with many poor people. That's the same inside for both small and big rich people. It is difficult for someone who is clever in making money and wants everyone to be rich when resources are limited to exist. Don't sell your conscience for the rich when you are poor. Only when we face the truth of history and acknowledge its mistakes can true national unity be realized.