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Lessons in liberalism

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Samuel Lee, like many South Korean university students in the 1960s, participated in the April Revolution demonstrations that eventually toppled Syngman Rhee’s military regime. He later continued his dissident activities in West Germany, where he coordinated a protest movement against Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship.

“I had organized a democratic movement … called [the] Forum for Democracy in Korea,” Lee said in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times. “We were fighting against the dictatorship in [South] Korea. But after giving … interviews … in the German press, I couldn’t return to Korea until 1982 — after 14 years [of] staying in Europe, harbored in exile.”

His early experiences as a student dissident at home and political exile abroad informed his later work as a founder of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, one of South Korea’s most powerful civic organizations, and as Secretary-General of UNESCO’s Korean National Commission — experiences he will address in a talk tomorrow titled Why We Are Where We Are: A Personal Account of South Korea’s Path to Democracy.

The talk, part of the MediaTek lectures hosted by the Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation (龍應台文化基金會), will be held in English with simultaneous interpretation in Mandarin.

“I would like to describe the process of how we changed our country from dictatorial rule to political democracy and also economic development and [the development of a] peaceful relationship with North Korea,” he said.

Lee, who is currently professor of social philosophy at Seoul’s Soongsil University, said that the military dictatorship in North Korea helped justify authoritarianism in the South.

“Many thought that … democracy could not be realized because of our antagonism and struggle against North Korea and any military government will say that because of the dictatorship in North Korea we should also have an authoritarian government [in South Korea],” said Lee, who was born in North Korea.

When asked to cite the processes that enabled South Korea to move beyond its authoritarian past, Lee paused before answering.

“Gradually increasing the influence and power of civil society, including the intellectuals and religious leaders,” he said. “And also, of course, the student movements.”

Samuel Lee’s lecture is tomorrow from 2pm to 5pm at the GIS Convention Center, B1, 85, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段85號B1). The lecture is in English. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Call (02) 3322-4907, or register online at www.civictaipei.org.

— NOAH BUCHAN

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