Death of dissident in 1975 may bring political storm

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) said Friday that it will form a fact-finding panel to investigate the death of Chang Joon-ha, a prominent dissident who fought against the authoritarian government of then-President Park Chung-hee, in 1975.

The move came after Chang’s family renewed suspicions that he might have been murdered by agents, not killed after falling while mountain climbing as claimed by the Park administration.

The DUP has called for a reinvestigation to clear the suspicions surrounding Chang’s death, while the ruling Saenuri Party blames it for taking advantage of the case for political interests ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election.

The late President Park is the father of Park Geun-hye, the leading presidential hopeful for the Saenuri Party.

The rival camps are intensifying the wrangling over Chang’s death after his family released a photo of his remains and the results of a recent autopsy.

The photo shows a large hole, about 5 to 6 centimeters in diameter, in Chang’s skull. On Wednesday, Chang’s son, Chang Ho-kwon, 63, said forensic experts determined that it was an injury that might have been caused by a weapon.

Professor Lee Yoon-seong of Seoul National University, who led the autopsy, said, “The fracture of the skull and internal bleeding or damage of the brain seems to have caused Chang’s death.”

“The fracture was caused by an external force but it is not possible for me to determine whether it was caused by a strike or a fall.”

In August 1975, Chang climbed a mountain in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province with some 40 others but was later found dead. The Park administration said at the time that Chang had fallen to his death while climbing. No autopsy was carried out, and Chang’s body was hurriedly buried.

There have been suspicions ever since that Chang might have been murdered.

Will it be a campaign issue?

The fresh allegations could deal a blow to Park’s presidential ambitions.

Opposition lawmakers have called for Park to speak out about the issue and accept their demands for a reinvestigation.

“If Park wishes to become leader of the nation, she has to distance herself from the dark aspects of the former Park administration,” said Kim Sam-woong, former head of the Independence Hall of Korea. “Justifying or covering up wrongdoings is not appropriate behavior for a public figure.”

Kim was a member of an investigative committee that looked into Chang’s death after the first civilian government was established in 1993. He published a critical biography of Chang in 2009, and has been pressing to get to the bottom of the case.

Chung Se-kyun, a DUP presidential contender, said, “If Chang was murdered by Park’s agents, his daughter cannot become president.”

Chung said Park should learn a lesson from Svetlana, the daughter of former Soviet dictator Stalin. She is known to have said, “My father was a dictator and I am an accomplice as I have been silent about the issue. I have been living trying to atone for it.”

In 2004, a state commission tasked with clearing up “suspicious deaths” looked into Chang’s case again but concluded that it was impossible to determine the exact cause of death.

It, however, said the investigation was not properly conducted in 1975 and related records were destroyed. Police officers testified they were excluded from the probe and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service, took all the records regarding the case. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>

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