A Matter of Conscience

Hahm Suk Hun, 75, a venerable leader of South Korea's Quakers and an advocate of nonviolence, had been imprisoned by the Japanese, the Russians and then by the authoritarian Syngman Rhee regime. Now he knew he faced imprisonment again. And so, each day during his trial, he came to the Seoul courtroom dressed in beige funeral robes to symbolize the death of his freedom--and of Korean democracy. When the four-month trial finally ended, he and 17 distinguished co-defendants were sentenced to terms ranging from two to eight years each. Said Hahm: "These were the best of our people. They have nothing to be ashamed of. It was a matter of conscience."

The matter of conscience occurred last March 1 at an ecumenical Mass in Seoul's Roman Catholic Myongdong Cathedral, marking the 57th anniversary of a Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule. A group of political and religious opposition leaders decided to use the occasion to issue a "Declaration for the Restoration of Democracy," protesting the iron rule of Park Chung Hee and calling on him to step down.

Flagrant Irregularities. Korea's cowed newspapers never printed the declaration, but within a few hours the Korean CIA (KCIA) began rounding up scores of people who had attended the Mass. In due course, 18 people, all Christians, were charged with violating Emergency Decree No. 9, a measure that the Confucian Park promulgated last year, forbidding criticism of his government or even of the emergency measure. Among the accused, along with Quaker Hahm: former President Yun Po Sun, 79, who held office from 1960 to 1961; Kim Dae Jung, 50, an opposition leader who lost by a narrow margin to Park in the 1971 presidential election; former Foreign Minister Chyung Yil Hyung, 72, and his lawyer wife, Lee Tai Young, 62.

The trial was hardly impartial. Transcripts of court sessions and even the charges were frequently delayed, thus hampering preparation of the defense. The defendants were not allowed to call any witnesses in their behalf and there were flagrant irregularities in court procedure.

Still, the defendants managed to turn the courtroom into a forum for their cause. In one full day of testimony, Kim Dae Jung, who has likened Park to an "Asiatic Hitler," charged that the regime's repressive policies were playing into the hands of Communist North Korea. Said he: "Where there is no freedom to defend, how is it possible to fight Communism?"

One of the trial's most emotional moments occurred when the frail former President, Yun Po Sun, took the stand. "At the age of 78," he said, "my interest is not in making a political comeback, but only in seeing democracy restored in my country. The end of my life is drawing near every day without my seeing any sign of improvement at all in Korea." Outside the courtroom, the defendants' wives and friends gathered daily on a nearby street corner, wearing large crosses embroidered on their clothes.

After the harsh sentences were handed down, the defendants promptly filed appeals last week and said they would take the case all the way to the supreme court if necessary, a process that would take at least a year. Meanwhile, many of them will remain in prison.

In Washington, which is providing Park with $428.5 million this year and a 41,000-man U.S. armed force to keep the Communists at bay, the trial was viewed somewhat ambiguously. Last June, Congress passed legislation directing the Administration to protest "in forceful terms" within 60 days against the Park regime's persecution of dissidents. Last week an Assistant Secretary of State called in the South Korean ambassador and handed him a note saying that the Congress "views with distress the erosion of important civil liberties." State Department officials said, however, the note was not deliberately timed to coincide with the court verdicts. It was simply that the 60 days had expired.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.