On May 1, 1987, students lie down on Jongno 3-ga road, protesting with slogans calling for the abolition of the constitution and the overthrow of dictatorship. [Photo=The Democracy Foundation]

I am someone who lived for 50 years in North Korea, which can be called the ultimate dictatorship. When I lived in North Korea, I used to watch documentary films showing young students in South Korea fighting against tear gas and throwing Molotov cocktails, shouting for the overthrow of dictatorship. 

Each time, I envied South Korea, where young students had the freedom to throw Molotov cocktails at armed police. It was something unimaginable in North Korea.

Forces that opposed the government are now wielding that power themselves

As years passed, I came to South Korea in search of freedom and am now enjoying the freedom I had only dreamed of. Although I am a defector at the lowest level, not receiving the same treatment as in North Korea, I live with the realization that freedom is far more precious than any royal treatment.

Therefore, I have never regretted my defection. However, lately, I have started to think that my decision to defect to South Korea was wrong, and although it is embarrassing, I am writing this.

The South Korea of today is an era where the left-wing forces that once shouted for the overthrow of dictatorship and freedom, and threw Molotov cocktails at the government, now control all aspects of the nation, including politics and economy, and wield the cudgel of power.

Of course, governments can change, but I never imagined that the left-wing, or so-called progressive, people who advocated for freedom and the overthrow of dictatorship would be such dictators who suppress freedom of the press.

They, too, must have once shouted for the overthrow of dictatorship at the scene of the democratization movement. [Photo=Yonhap News]

The proof is me. I was summoned by the police and investigated at the behest of the Democratic Party of Korea, the ruling party, and am currently awaiting legal punishment, with several more investigations pending.

The charge against me is that my past writings defamed the Democratic Party of Korea and the May 18 Foundation.

Even when I was in North Korea, I understood that South Korea was a country where freedom of the press was thoroughly guaranteed. The fact that reporters like Jo Gab-je in South Korea continue to write articles criticizing the government and the president and have survived is clear evidence. In North Korea, my entire family would have been exterminated.

Recalling the Japanese colonial era's suppression of Korean media

Then why is the current political scene trembling at the writings of this powerless defector and resorting to lawsuits and accusations so readily? If this ignorant defector wrote something incorrectly out of ignorance, shouldn't the truth be explained?

In other words, shouldn't the government provide a detailed explanation to the public about the fraudulent election and the May 18 incident that I wrote about? Instead, they are resorting to frequent legal accusations against a defector to intimidate them and silence them. What does this mean? It clearly indicates an intention to hide something.

That's not all. The 'Hanmi Ilbo,' where I contribute my articles, is just a small, unknown internet newspaper. However, on February 3rd, police suddenly raided Hanmi Ilbo, conducted a search and seizure, and even confiscated the mobile phones of its administrators. This is thorough suppression of the press.

It reminds me of the tyranny of the Japanese police suppressing Korean media about 100 years ago during the Japanese colonial era.

Ultimately, the people who once protested against the government, shouting for the overthrow of dictatorship and freedom, were not freedom fighters but the ultimate dictators who curbed the freedom of the people.

The world that the people who fought against power, shouting for the overthrow of dictatorship, wanted to create was not a dictatorial world that suppressed freedom of the press like today.

◆ Senior Advisor Kim Tae-san

Senior Advisor at Hanmi Ilbo, former representative of a North Korean trading company in the Czech Republic. In South Korea, he works as the Vice President of the North Korea Social Research Institute, offering deep insights and experience on inter-Korean relations and North Korean issues.