Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol resigned in early March 2021. On his first trip outside the country, he visited Yonsei Professor Emeritus Kim Hyung-seok (103) at his home. Kim offered him advice as he contemplated entering politics, and he went on to win the 20th presidential election in March of the following year. We caught up with Kim at Gwanghwamun in Seoul on Oct. 30 to find out how he has watched Yoon's 18 months in office.
The ruling party lost the by-election for the mayor of Gangseo-gu in Seoul.
"The margin of victory was wider than expected, but that was to be expected. I don't think we need to talk about it anymore because the important thing is the general election next year, and what changes between now and then."
President Yoon's first order of business after leaving the prosecutor general's office was to visit the professor.
"After he resigned as prosecutor general, he called me and said he wanted to meet with me. At first I said no, because I didn't think I could be of much help, but then he said, 'I really want to meet with you,' and I said yes, because my father (the late Professor Yoon Ki-joong) and I worked together at Yonsei."
Former Government Statistical Manipulation, Fact-Lost Society
What did you say?
"I got the impression that you have a big bowl, so I told him: First, the people's expectations of you are growing, so think about what you can do for the country in the future and make your life more rewarding than it is now. Second, if your 'heart bowl' is empty, it's okay to do politics. Third, if you do, be open to the opinions of experts. Politics is not a solo endeavor."
Do you still heed that advice?
"President Yoon came into office in a really difficult situation. It was recently revealed that officials in the Moon Jae-in government were falsifying statistics, which is really unimaginable. There's also a serious drug problem, and it seems like the last five years of the government didn't touch it. He came to the presidency while the country was as sick as it looks, and it must be very difficult for him now because he came to the presidency while the country was divided. I hope he can fix the ills of society left by the previous government, instead of playing favorites."
Why did this happen?
"After the democratization, the legal profession and the activists divided the political world. I'm sorry to say, but the activists were only trained to fight and win, and they didn't study at all. The lawyers are better than the activists because they have studied a lot, but the downside of the lawyers is that they don't have a good international sense. But President Yoon has been active in restoring relations between Japan and South Korea."
Do you approve of President Yoon's diplomatic stance?
"One of the best things he did as president was to come back to the liberal camp by improving relations with Japan. My elementary school classmate was Kim Il Sung. I once had breakfast with him in Pyongyang after the liberation, and when I asked him what he wanted to do next, he started with 'eliminate the pro-Japanese faction. ' That's the tragedy of North Korea today, and it was frustrating to see the last regime do the same thing, but now I'm thinking, 'The way the world is moving, Korea is moving.'"
The pro-Japanese argument is still alive and well.
"I lived through the Japanese occupation, and I suffered so much that I used to think, 'How can I repay the Japanese?' It was Dosan Ahn Chang-ho who changed my mind. He taught me, 'You have to overcome evil with good. ' He taught us to live honestly and to overcome Japan by developing a mature personality. Nowadays, when I see the Israeli-Palestinian Hamas war, I am reminded that evil cannot be repaid with evil."
You emphasized the importance of national unity.
"Our society has lost sight of the facts, the 'facts'. When the state manipulates statistics, it's enough said. I want this government to lead the country confidently, talking to people from all walks of life, based on the facts as they are. If you don't try to fight, but humbly reach out to the people, it will work."
Personnel, external referrals, youth, etc.
President Yoon is doing a good job of filling the 'empty bowl'.
"South Korea has grown from a military dictatorship to a democracy with the rule of law, but I don't think it has reached the same level as developed countries in the West, where common sense and order are the foundation of society. Liberals and conservatives need to coexist, and I hope President Yoon has that in spades."
People are a big criticism.
"I would like to use President Chun Doo-hwan as an example. When he came to power, there was a lot of concern that it was a military dictatorship, but in areas he didn't know, such as the economy and education, he gathered experts from all walks of life, asking them to 'help'. President Park Chung-hee was similar. I think the biggest problem facing President Yoon right now is 'personnel problems', so I would like to see a wider range of people, including younger people, who are highly recommended from the outside, and thoroughly vetted."
Why is your approval rating dropping?
"I would like to see an end to the ideological debate and a lot of pragmatic talk. The conversation is pragmatism. The president needs to work on diplomacy and defense, and the prime minister and ministers need to create an atmosphere where they can work. Ideological debates are like trying to build a house from the sky, not from the ground. Let's face it, we have to build from the ground, and that's the people's life."
What kind of leadership do you need to provide.
"Recently, Yohan Inouye said, 'Don't hate people for having different ideas,' and I agree. Leadership comes from how you bring those different ideas together, and it's okay to have different ideas, but you can't work with people who have different goals, and that's where we're at right now. It's hard to go with the extreme left who are trying to shake up the country, and the people have to vote them out of office."
Should you reach out to the opposition first?
"I think it's still too early, because Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is blatantly saying, 'I'm going to bring down this regime and I'm going to survive with impunity.' Lee Jae-myung is responsible for the tense relationship with the opposition now. I've lived for 100 years, and time resolves things better than human efforts."
Failure when self-interest trumps patriotism
What would you say to the president if he came back to visit you now?
"Remain a truthful president from beginning to end. I know from first-hand experience of communist rule in North Korea that the left has no truth, and they control the media and manipulate the truth to win, but the power of truth wins in the end. If the president works with a truthful attitude, he will naturally integrate into society and will be judged properly later. Become a government that will never have only 'naro nambul', I will tell you that."
You've seen all 13 presidents of the United States.
"I've been alive for 103 years, and I've seen them all, starting with President Syngman Rhee, and they all failed when 'selfishness' took precedence over 'patriotism.' President Syngman Rhee started out as a liberal democracy but ended up as a dictatorship, and President Park Chung-hee lost the people's trust with the theocratic constitution at the end of his rule. Politics is for the people, and when I do something because I want to be applauded, I'm already sick."
Kim Hyung-seok
He was born in 1920 in Daedong, North Pyongan Province. Kim Il-sung was his elementary school classmate, poet Yun Dong-joo was his classmate at Sungsiljung in Pyongyang, and he studied with Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan at Chōji University in Japan. Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, who had heard him speak in person as a student, inspired him to take up the cause. At the age of twenty-five, he was liberated in Pyongyang and experienced communism in North Korea, and at the age of thirty, he witnessed the Korean War of June 25 and the Korean War of April 19. Retired as a professor at Yonsei University, he is the first generation Korean philosopher. He has published bestsellers such as 'One Hundred Years of Life' and continues to write and lecture actively. President Yoon Seok-yeol met with him for advice on his first trip outside the country since resigning as prosecutor general in March 2021.