South Korea recently removed its impeached president Park Geun-hye from office. Whereas her father, Park Chung-hee, was assassinated while in office, Park Geun-hye’s career was doomed by the nation’s political system.
High political tension does not only exist in the conflict between North and South Korea, but also within the South Korean power structure. For South Koreans, this is a time of both joy and sorrow, light and darkness.
Korea became independent after World War II, but the incompatibility between the right and left ideologies soon led to civil war. Following intervention by the US and the Soviet Union — represented by the Chinese — the nation was divided into South Korea and North Korea. The division, which Koreans call “the split of the nation” has since troubled the two Koreas in a variety of ways.
South Korea represented the US’ front line during the Cold War, much in the same way that Taiwan was saddled with the title Republic of China (ROC) after it was occupied by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) after the Chinese Civil War.
Nevertheless, both Koreas are members of the UN. Taiwan, on the other hand, was deprived of its seat due to pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
After World War II, Taiwan became mired in the war between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During that time, dissidents were accused of colluding with the communists and persecuted. Nevertheless, Taiwanese have for years worked on building a new and better nation through countless democratic and independence movements.
Koreans are typically strong-willed and passionate, whereas Taiwanese are generally gentle, patient and forgiving. Korea and Taiwan were colonized by Japanese, one through invasion, the other after being ceded to it, and one is located in the north and the other in the south.
Korea had been a kingdom, while Taiwanese were settlers who never founded their own nation. Since independence, South Korea has gone through many constitutional reforms and established a constitutional republic, while Taiwan has been confined by a constitution made in China from which it remains unable to free itself.
The ROC in Taiwan is once again ruled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which the KMT apparently views as an enemy that has stolen the nation from it, the same as how it treated the CCP after fleeing to Taiwan in 1949.
Over the long Martial Law era, several generations of Taiwanese wasted their youth. Although much progress has been made thanks to democratization and transitions of power, the nation — fundamentally structured as part of the ROC — is still being held hostage by the KMT, as it continues to impose its old ideas.
North and South Korea are clearly two different nations opposed to each other. In contrast, Taiwan and China find themselves in a more complex situation as Taiwan remains threatened by the rise of new China, while at the same time being restricted by the ghost of China within, preventing it from developing its own clear understanding of nationality.
Following World War II, Korea became independent and later split in two, but South Korea became its own nation after having lived through military dictatorship, followed by democratization. In contrast, Taiwan did not choose independence immediately following World War II, but was occupied and ruled by the KMT.
To this day, Taiwan is still struggling to move beyond the complex tension between the KMT and the CCP as it seeks to consolidate its democracy and become independent. Why?
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Tu Yu-an
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