Park Chung-hee, center with sunglasses, visits then U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., U.S. Nov. 14, 1961. Courtesy of JFK Library

I’ve often made the argument that history in Korean society is one of the most dangerous topics to explore. One is obliged to consider sensitivity rather than facts, to be cognizant of the prevailing national mood, and to tread carefully around issues of colonization, culture, and important figures. The trepidation one feels is added to by the presence of national defamation laws which can see people sued for saying things about people, living or dead, that might affect their reputation in a negative manner, even if what is said is true. Consider that rather complex sentence one more time to make sure you understand it. You can get sued for defamation even if you are telling the truth.

This week, I sat with various mixed groups of international and Korean students discussing the country’s modernization, steering them through the theories of Chang Kyung-sup, explaining the new village movement, highlighting the women in the factories, and making them aware of the conscious national drive to create a developed country in the eyes of the western world in time for the Seoul 88 Olympics. This last aspect is brought to life brilliantly by Lee Tae-woong’s KBS documentary “88/18.”

The foreign students all centered on one question: Who is this Park Chung-hee chap the professor keeps mentioning? During the break, they turned and asked their Korean classmates completely innocently about the man who ruled the country for nearly two decades with heavy-handed methods, dragging the people out of farms and into urbanized living spaces. They were greeted with uncomfortable silences and people looking furtively at their shoes. Few wanted to say anything.

It is not easy for young people to have an opinion on Park Chung-hee in modern Korea, but this hesitancy is completely alien to their foreign counterparts who speak openly about their leaders past and present. Just as some western students might suddenly go quiet when faced with questions about trans........

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