Han Jong-Sun (한종선) and Kim Yong-Won (김용완) are searching for justice following Han's horrific childhood in a South Korean Internment camp, located in the populous city of Busan, called "Brothers Home." For those who don't know what that is, it is not a piece of history South Korea takes pride in. It was a camp in the 1970s-80s where thousands of people—mainly the homeless, including children and even college students—were taken illegally. Supposedly the original idea was that underprivileged people would be provided for until they could get back on their feet. Reading about it sounds as bad as the North Korean prison camps. Like most Internment camps, this one treated their inhabitants very, very, very inhumanely. Jong-Sun recalls seeing 4 inmates being beaten to death by the camp's guards. The guards would frequently torture them, in every way possible. Nearly all people who survived this camp now have serious mental and psychological issues and will have them for the rest of their lives.
The owner of the camp was arrested at one point, but after a long legal fight, he was only sentenced to two and a half years in prison for embezzlement and some other small charges. So now Han Jong-Sun and Kim Yong-Won are requesting investigation of the camp, in hopes that the government will take proper actions to allow fellow victims to feel some sense of closure, and hopefully, a form of slight reimbursement—although you cannot take back even a fraction of the damage that has been done. The government is hesitant to do anything about it, however, saying that "past affairs are very complicated and need a special committee to conduct the investigation." In order for them to be able to go through with an investigation, a bill would need to be passed, which many opposition law-makers have been fighting for for years.
[Warning: proceed with knowledge that the topic discussed is even sadder and way more graphic than the way I summarized it]
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/25/asia/south-korea-brothers-home-abuse/
This just shows how much the government has corrupted all over the world. Embezzlement and small charges? How about Murder and man slaughter.
ReplyDeleteI know! Plus abduction, sexual assault, and domestic violence, and those are only the huge things he should be in prison for. I do think the arrest was a while back, and their government has improved since then. Back then, it was still starting as its own separate government from North Korea. We as the United States definitely have things that never should have happened with the morals we founded our country on, such as slavery, but this stands out since it is fairly modern.
Delete*Not domestic violence, I meant just plain violence
DeleteThis is a good lesson for all nations about taking responsibility for our past mistakes, but how far should that go? We look at this situation and feel like it's a no-brainer that these young men and others like them should be compensated in some way for their unjust imprisonment, but when we look to our own nation, do we feel like our government should still be compensating the descendants of slaves? Of Native Americans whose land was taken? Of Japanese-Americans who were interned during WWII? We generally don't see it the same way when it's not the very person who was treated unjustly but their descendants, but should we? Where is the line between just compensation and moving on? I don't know the best answer to this, so I'm really asking you what you think.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that they should provide compensation— living costs, all mental and physical healthcare, and education of choice— for all who were victims as well as their kids. By the time it gets to grandkids, it should be fading out. The government is responsible for this, but they can't spend all their money on compensation for people who just so happened to be born as the great-great-great-great niece of a victim. I think in the case of Native Americans, it's unfair that for things our government did so many years ago, someone whose grandpa was Native American but grew up just like the rest of us can get a college scholarship just by showing evidence of their Native American blood. It is just for the government to try to provide compensation for any damage they've done, but rewarding people for being born into the right family is communist-minded. It is hard to draw the line between that and a victim, though, so I think the government should set an number of generations they will provide for based on what they have done to them.
DeleteWell thought, Avonlea. Much of the line just has to be the logistics of paying out to too many people whose lives are only indirectly affected.
ReplyDelete