After challenging the myth of Baekbeom Kim Koo in 2024 with his work 'Terrorist Kim Koo,' Dr. Jeong An-gi returns two years later to deconstruct the 'national hero' once again in his new book, 'Traitor Kim Koo.'

UNESCO has officially designated 2026 as the '150th anniversary of the birth of Kim Koo,' stating that "Baekbeom Kim Koo sought to bring happiness to all of humanity not through military or economic power, but through the 'power of high culture' after liberation." Even more than 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 dedication to the nation's independence and autonomy, whether he was a leader with the political reason and character to bear the consequences of his beliefs, and whether his North-South negotiations were truly a tortured decision made in the interest of national reunification.

The author reconstructs the 'North-South negotiations' that took place after Kim Koo's return to Korea, not as an isolated event, but within the political context before and after. By applying Max Weber’s 'Politics as a Vocation,' the author critically examines Kim Koo’s political aptitude and ethics.

Dr. Jeong An-gi [Photo by Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

"The North-South negotiations of April 1948 have been remembered as an event born of Kim Koo's historical resolution and national aspiration. However, behind it existed Seong Si-baek, the chief of the North Korean Workers' Party in South Korea—the so-called 'authoritative line.' He co-opted the centrists, expanded his network of connections, and brought the negotiations into the public sphere."

Following the North-South negotiations, Kim Koo joined forces with the North and South Korean Workers' Parties to form the 'National Committee for the Anti-South Korean Separate Election Struggle' and engaged in a campaign to crush the May 10 general election. Disregarding accusations that he was a 'fifth column for the Communist Party,' he immersed himself in an anti-government campaign that denied the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea, calling for the withdrawal of U.S. and Soviet troops, the invalidation of the general election, nationwide 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 collaboration with the Communists, and sought to block UN recognition of the government while instigating and collaborating in the Yeosu-Suncheon rebellion.

While Kim Koo's actions have previously been interpreted either as a pursuit of unification or as a denial of the founding of the Republic of Korea, there has been little research that analyzes these two perspectives in an integrated manner. Instead of relying on the existing emotional and ideological narratives that either praise or unilaterally condemn his actions, this book provides an empirical analysis of Kim Koo’s North-South negotiations through a 'Weberian frame,' offering a multi-layered, complex, and value-neutral perspective.