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THE WASHINGTON POST 29 MARSS
South Korean Dissident Travels to Pyongyang
Illegal Trip Draws Threat of Punishment From Seoul Government
By Peter Maass
Special to The Washington Post
SEOUL, March 26-South Ko-
rea's most famous dissident has
begun an illegal visit to communist
North Korea and may be arrested
when he returns to the South, gov-
ernment officials said today.
Moon Ik Kwan, 71, reportedly
arrived in the North Korean capital
of Pyongyang yesterday via Tokyo,
marking the first time that a leading
South Korean dissident has visited
the northern city since the Korean
War ended in 1953. Visits there are
prohibited except in rare cases ap-
proved by the government.
Moon's visit, which apparently
surprised officials here, dominated
news broadcasts and drew a quick
and harsh response from the gov-
ernment. [A senior South Korean
prosecutor was quoted by state ra-
dio Sunday as saying that Moon
would face legal action under a
tough anticommunist law that car-
ries a maximum penalty of death,
Reuter reported.]
Though the South and the North
are still technically at war, South
Korean . President Roh Tae Woo
said last year that Pyongyang
should be viewed as a partner, not
as an enemy, and he proposed wide-
ranging exchanges. Negotiations
have yet to be successful.
MOON IK KWAN
.. may be arrested in South Korea
relations with North Korea have
become the focus of intense discus-
sions among many South Koreans,
who for decades were legally pro-
hibited from talking about the sub-
ject and who have expressed a
strong desire for reunification.
Seoul, with the consent of the
main opposition parties, has prohib -.
ited dissidents and militant stu-
dents-who have criticized Roh's
efforts as being insincere and
weak-from setting up their own
channels of contact with the North.
Officials have said they fear that
independent talks or exchanges
could undermine their authority and
be manipulated by North Korea to
The government has also deployed
police to block illegal prounification
marches to the border. [Authorities
deployed thousands of riot troops
throughout Seoul on Sunday to end
antigovernment protests by radical
groups, The Associated Press re-
ported. No incidents were reported
in Seoul but students were reported
to have clashed with riot police in
two southern provincial cities.]
Seoul's political reforms include
allowing the circulation of some
books, photographs and movies
about North Korea-all strictly
banned until a year ago. The govern-
ment has also allowed firms here to
trade openly with the North, and ear-
lier this year permitted Chung Ju
Young, founder of the Hyundai
Group, to visit Pyongyang, where he
agreed to help develop a tourist area.
The visit by the Princeton-edu-
cated Moon, however, goes beyond
the bounds of what the government
is willing to tolerate. Moon grew up
in northern Korea but fled south in
the 1940s after his father, a Pres-
byterian minister, had been jailed
twice by the communists.
Moon, frequently jailed in the
South during the 1970s and '80s,
was invited to Pyongyang earlier
this year to participate in talks that
North Korea proposed between po-
litical leaders from each side. The
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28 Feb 89 WP
Koreans' Love for the U.S. Has Faded ..
Approved For Release 2000
MOON, From A16
Their criticism of the United
States is rooted in a sense of be-
trayal. South Koreans are steeped
in the hierarchical conceptions of
Confucianism, and in their view the
role of respected authority figure
the United States took on four dec-
ades ago meant that in return for
the loyalty of people here their in-
terests would be protected. The
rage now felt by some South Ko-
reans derives from their perception
that the United States actually
worked against the interests of the
Korean people by dividing the coun-
try and supporting dictators and
that it continues to do so today.
"Koreans are bitter as well as
sad," Moon Kwan says. "They feel
they are betrayed by a trusted
friend."
For a generation, South Koreans
read grade-school textbooks extol-
ling the virtues of the United
States. Moon Tong Hwan's Amer-
ican wife, Faye Moon, recalled that
South Korean women used to ask
her for the recipe for apple pie. The
Moon brothers even adopted west-
ern names while in the United
State, becoming Timothy and Ste-
ven Moon.
"It was like a dream country,"
Moon Ik Kwan recalled of his per-
ception of the United States, "a
great Christian nation." He lived
through the famous 1965 blackout
and vividly remembers how ex-
traordinarily generous New York-
ers were as they helped each other
cope with the power failure. "Cour-
teous," "kind," "gentle," and "con-
scientious" are some of the words
he uses to describe his feelings
about Americans in that era.
The younger Moon had similar
impressions when he studied in the
U.S. from 1951 to 1961 at several
seminaries. Still, he began to expe-
rience some uneasiness, even some
hints of racism, although none of
this was yet strong enough to
change his pro-American disposi-
tion. He recalled that when he be-
came engaged to an American wo-
man, a close American friend told
him that she would have been op-
posed to his marrying her daughter.
"Americans were kind to me, but
I was always kept at arm's length,"
Moon Hwan said in an interview at
his home. His wife, Faye, nodded in
agreement, The sound of American
music wafted into the room from a
stereo turned on by one of their
children, who have Korean names
and speak both Korean and English.
An anti-American poster hangs on a
wall.
A Presbyterian deacon, Faye
Moon speaks fluent Korean and is a
social activist who counsels, among
others, Korean prostitutes who
serve U.S. soldiers. For nearly nine
years in the 1970s, she was an al-
cohol and drug-rehabilitation coun-
selor for the U.S. military in Seoul.
She now laughs about the irony of
having worked "for the [U.S.] gov-
ernment that was supporting the
dictator that was keeping my hus-
band in jail."
After spending about eight years
translating the Bible into Korean,
Moon Ik Kwan joined his brother in
opposition politics in the mid-1970s,
but his dispute was chiefly with the
generals ruling South Korea, not
with the United States. The turning
point for the Moons-as for most
Koreans now critical of the United
States-was the 1980 Kwangju up-
rising, in which more than 200 peo-
ple were killed when the military
government of Chun Doo Hwan
sent troops into the provincial cap-
ital to put down a student-led rebel-
lion against the regime.
At the outset of the crisis, Moon
Kwan was accused of helping plot a
revolution and jailed. He was pris-
oner number 202, and the re-
nowned opposition leader Kim Dae
Jung was number 201. While in jail,
Moon Kwan learned of the Kwangju
deaths and of the allegations-ta-
ken as fact by students and dissi-
dents-that the U.S. military mas-
terminded the suppression of the
uprising.
"For the first time I was able to
see the Korean problem in an inter-
national context," Moon Kwan said.
"Synghman Rhee, Park Chung Hee,
Chun Doo Hwan-to me, they had
been the enemies. But all of a sud-
den I realized that America and Ja-
pan are pulling all the strings be-
hind them. . . . America knew what
was happening [in Kwangju] and
.. condoned it. That was shatter-
ing." In the wake of Kwangju; Moon
Kwan says, "I awakened from the
dream."
Moon Hwan was traveling in Eu-
rope when the Kwangju incident
occurred in May 1980, and was un-
able to return to South Korea be-
cause a warrant had been issued
here for his arrest. Instead, he went
to the United States as a political
exile and tried to arouse interest in
the human-rights abuses committed
by Chun's martial-law regime.
But Moon Hwan said he was ig-
nored by the Washington establish-
ment and shouted down by ordinary
Americans during a speaking tour in
MOON IK KWAN
... "I was so naive" about America
which he criticized U.S. policy.
"They got angry," he recounted.
"They said, "We sent our boys to
Korea to die, and now you speak
like that.' They were furious. They
wouldn't listen. People stood up and
walked out."
It was a dismaying experience,
and Moon Hwan left the United
States for home in 1985 with vastly
different ideas than when he ended
his previous sojourn in 1961. "For
us Koreans, it's foolish to expect
America to do anything for us and
our 'democracy," he said. "The
[U.S.] government handles the sit-
uation according to the interests of
people who are concerned only
about themselves. ... It is hope-
less."
For Moon Hwan, there is the
added dismay of competing family
loyalties. "Maybe it is because I
married an American; this has made
America my second nation," he said.
For his son in the U.S. Air Force,
America is a first nation, and this
appears to pain Moon Hwan. He
tried to persuade his son not to join,
MOON TONG HWAN
... "I admired America for a while"
but he insisted because being an Air
Force pilot was the only way he
could fulfill his dream of becoming
an astronaut.
"That's his desire," Moon said un-
easily. "I cannot force him. We tried
to help him -see differently, but he
stuck to the idea."
Whatever their present sympa-
thies, the Moons and their country
remain tied to America. Moon
Kwan still has some yellowed pic-
tures of himself dressed in a U.S.
Army uniform, and he plans to hold
on to them because "that was part
of my life; I cannot throw them
out." Moon Hwan expects his pilot
son to settle in America, and his
youngest daughter also feels more
comfortable in an American rather
than South Korean environment, he
says.
Moon Hwan prefers South Ko-
rea, but he has promised his wife
Faye that once he retires from pol-
itics they will return to the United
States "and spend the rest of our
lives there."
Pears
Complaints
In S. Korea
S. KOREA, From A16
South Korean reaction to Bush's
visit showed how even well-inten-
tioned gestures can go awry in the
current climate of trade tensions
and rising nationalism here. U.S.
officials, fearing South Koreans
would feel slighted if Bush visited
only Japan and China on his trip,
added the brief stop in Seoul. But
today, the media repeatedly point-
ed out that he was making the
"shortest visit ever by a U.S. pres-
ident."
Bush met opposition leader Kim
Dae Jung, a former political prison-
er and dissident who for years was
shunned by even the U.S. ambas-
sador. Kim spent most of the meet=
ing lecturing Bush on the causes of
anti-Americanism, citing U.S. trade
pressure as a key problem.
Even ruling party chairman Park
Jyun Kyu warned Bush about rising
anti-Americanism, according to
South Korean officials who attended
the private meeting between the
president and major party leaders.
Bush acknowledged
worries
about anti-American sentiment, but
said it does not overly concern him,
according to the same sources. He
told the party leaders that he be-
lieves many South Koreans still re-
member U.S. sacrifices in the
1950-53 Korean War and that ex-
isting conflicts can be resolved.
In his speech to the National As-
sembly, Bush warned South Korea
not to give in to protectionism. The
legislators listened silently to
Bush's plea for open markets. A
dozen opposition legislators boy-
cotted Bush's speech.
One U.S. official said Bush suc-
ceeded in establishing a personal
relationship with Roh and demon-
strating U.S. commitment to keep
its troops here. "Given the brevity
of the visit, he did what he had to
do," the official said.
But one South Korean politician
who asked not to be named said he
believed the visit had contributed
more to illustrating the gulf be-
twenn the top pad ...
Wasington Post special
correspondent Peter Maass in Seoul
contributed to this report.
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ARSIY TI
1
1
ROH TAE WOO
... planning political compromises

89/3
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GTON POST
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1989 A19
Kim Il Sung Sees S. Korean Dissident
Illegal Visit Represents Embarrassment to Government in Seoul
By Peter Maass
Special to The Washington Post
SEOUL, March 28-A South
Korean dissident's illegal journey to
North Korea turned more contro-
versial today with the disclosure
that he has met President Kim Il
Sung, whose last reported meeting
with a South Korean was in 1972.
The visit to North Korea by dis-
sident leader Moon Ik Kwan, who
faces arrest once he returns to
Seoul, is breaking a number of ta-
boos, but the meeting with Kim is
seen here as particularly explosive.
Visits to communist North Korea,
technically still at war with South
Korea, are banned except in rare
cases.
According to North Korean press
reports monitored today in Seoul
and Tokyo, the Princeton-educated
Moon and three traveling compan-
ions were at a luncheon given yes-
terday by Kim, who discussed uni-
fication issues with Moon. The
press reports did not provide any
comments from Moon, 71, a Pres-
byterian minister who has been
jailed often and is one of the father
figures of South Korea's dissident
movement.
Moon left South Korea early last
week for Tokyo and then traveled
to Beijing, where the North Ko-
reans reportedly provided a special
plane to fly him to Pyongyang on
Saturday
He is expected to return to South
Korea before April 14, when his
passport expires. He reportedly
wants to return via Panmunjom, the
truce village straddling the tense
Demilitarized Zone that has divided
the Korean peninsula since the war
ended in 1953.
Moon worked at Panmunjom, the
symbol of the peninsula's division,
more than 30 years ago as an inter-
preter for the U.S. Army during
truce talks with North Korea. He
was born in northern Korea but fled
south in the 1940s after his father
was persecuted by the communists.
Moon's trip takes place at one of
the most volatile moments so far in
South Korea's fragile transition to
democracy. Hard-liners in the mil-
itary and in the government, wor-
ried about symptoms of social dis-
order, are pressing conservative
President Roh Tae Woo to crack
down on dissent, and they are cer-
tain to redouble their efforts in the
wake of Moon's meeting with Kim.
A small-scale crackdown already
has begun. Police reportedly have
seized more than 3,000 copies of
pro-North Korean books and ar-
rested 11 publishers in raids last
night.
In a possible sign of struggles
within the ruling camp, the govern-
ment announced a shuffle of 49 top
generals today, including the sack-
ing of a three-star general who
failed to salute Roh at a public cer-
emony last week. The general's ac-
tion was widely interpreted as a
sign of the unease that hard-line
generals are apparently feeling over
the political situation in South Ko-
rea. Today's shuffle may be a bid to
move troublesome officers out of
the powerful military, although few
details were made available.
Moon's meeting with Kim, shown
in a blurred photograph published in
South Korean newspapers this af-
ternoon, puts the government in an
embarrassing position because of
its new policy of encouraging
friendlier ties with the North and
treating Pyongyang as a partner
rather than an enemy. Earlier this
year, the government permitted
Hyundai founder Chung Ju Young to
visit North Korea, and several
South Korean journalists have also
traveled to the North, although
none has met with Kim Il Sung.
The last South Korean whom
Kim is known to have met was Lee
Hyu Rak, then chief of the Korean
Central Intelligence Agency, who in
1972 made a secret trip to Pyon-
gyang that opened up a brief period
of detente. With the exception of
another brief thaw in 1985, the two
sides have had hostile relations.
Despite its new policy of opennes
to the North, the government here
has banned independent contacts
because it is afraid that North Ko-
rea will manipulate people such as
Moon to stir up political unrest and
undermine its authority. Students
and dissidents oppose the govern-
ment ban, arguing that if Roh can
state publicly, as he has, that he will
go anywhere at any time to meet
Kim Il Sung to promote reunifica-
tion, then they, too, should be al-
lowed to seek contacts with the'
North.
South Korea's intelligence com-
munity has come under fire for not
knowing in advance of Moon's plans
to visit the North and failing to
block him from doing so.
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