Two years after challenging the myth of Baekbeom Kim Koo with "Terrorist Kim Koo" in 2024, Dr. Jeong An-gi once again deconstructs the "national hero" in his new book, "Traitor Kim Koo."

UNESCO officially designated 2026 as the "150th anniversary of the birth of Kim Koo," noting that "Baekbeom Kim Koo sought to bring happiness to all of humanity after liberation, not through military or economic power, but through the 'power of high culture.'" Even 70 years after his death, Kim Koo continues to hold the status of a "teacher of the nation." 

However, the author of this book questions whether Kim Koo truly possessed the political qualifications and ethics worthy of someone dedicated to national independence and autonomy, whether he was a leader with the political reason and character to handle the consequences of his convictions, and whether his inter-Korean negotiations were truly agonizing decisions made for the cause of national unification.

The author reconstructs the "inter-Korean negotiations" that took place after Kim Koo’s return to Korea, not as an isolated event, but within the broader political context, and critically examines his political qualifications and ethics by applying Max Weber's "Politics as a Vocation." 

“The inter-Korean negotiations of April 1948 have been remembered as an event born from Kim Koo's historical resolution and national aspirations. However, behind the scenes, there existed what was known as the 'authoritative line' of Seong Si-baek, the chief of the North Korean Workers' Party in South Korea. He co-opted centrist factions, expanded his network, and brought the negotiations into the public eye.”

Following the inter-Korean negotiations, Kim Koo aligned with the North and South Korean Workers' Parties to form the "National Committee for the Struggle Against the Separate Election in South Korea" and launched a campaign to crush the May 10 general election. Disregarding accusations that he was a "communist fifth column," he focused on anti-government campaigns that denied the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea, such as calling for the withdrawal of U.S. and Soviet troops, the invalidation of the general election, inter-Korean general elections, and the establishment of a unified government. Furthermore, the book argues that he used the rhetoric of "peaceful unification" to conceal the deceptive nature of the united front with communists, and sought to block UN recognition of the government and incite or collaborate with the Yeosu-Suncheon Rebellion.

While Kim Koo’s actions have previously been interpreted either as efforts toward unification or as a rejection of the founding of the Republic of Korea, there have been few studies that analyze these two perspectives in an integrated manner. Instead of the emotional and ideological narratives that have characterized previous discourse—ranging from ideological praise to one-sided criticism—this book provides an empirical analysis of Kim Koo’s inter-Korean negotiations through a multi-layered, complex, and value-neutral lens using the "Weberian framework."