<i> Kim Dae Jung: </i> Fond Remembrance of a Certain Individual<i> From “Prison Writings,” translated by Choi Sung-il and David R. McCann, foreword by David R. McCann (University of California Press: $18.95; 333 pp.). </i>

A few weeks ago, the University of California Press published “Prison Writings,” letters by Kim Dae Jung, longtime leader of the opposition that now seems about to come to power in Korea. One of Kim’s themes is that democracy is not an utterly alien ideology in Asia. Western leaders do Korea no favor, he maintains, when they take the advice of authoritarian leaders that self-government must not be “imposed” on a country that is “not ready for it.” In the excerpt below, a lesson for his children, Kim honors the proto-democratic strand in Asian history and, by implication, hopes for its further development.

Fundamentally, people are the products of history and cannot sway its axis. Great people, however, can leave an indelible imprint on history, decisively influencing the fate of many. Those who greet the people with understanding and affection, keeping pace with the course of history, become highly respected and adored by everyone, regardless of historical period.

Zishan of the Zheng dynasty is one such person. He was of the Confucian period about 2,500 years ago and is highly regarded by the historians of the East and the West, not only as a great man of the past but also as a great man in the modern sense. Toynbee also rates him highly. Zishan was a finance minister of Zheng, a small (Chinese) country that existed during the mid-6th Century BC. When Confucius visited Zheng, they related to each other as affectionate friends, and Confucius praised him afterward.

As finance minister, Zishan checked with able diplomacy Jin in the north and Chu in the south, which harassed Zheng as if doing so were an annual activity, and fortified the basis of peace by making Zheng a buffer zone for the Zhou royalty. He did not simply use diplomacy to check these two great powers that were preying on smaller powers. As a foundation for such diplomacy, there was a solid domestic government, and he showed successful statecraft at home, which earned the spontaneous support of the people.

He sought to stabilize the political scene by mediating confrontational disputes between aristocrats. Further, he implemented reforms of national policies by establishing a fair rule by law and by improving the position of the people, who were struggling against the aristocrats and corrupt and greedy government officials, through reforms in taxation and the land system. His politics and ethics consisted of respecting human relations and establishing justice, and it is noteworthy that he exhibited an attitude that absolutely rejected superstition. Politics for the people, rational reform of the system, rule by law, pursuit of justice, and rejection of superstition--it is difficult to imagine that such a politician lived 2,500 years ago. The story is this.

In Zheng during Zishan’s time, there were school buildings in the villages where peasants congregated at night after their agricultural work to discuss varioustopics, occasionally criticizing the government. One of Zishan’s subordinates told him the people should not be allowed to use the school buildings because they would get together to criticize the government for no constructive purpose, which might lead to social unrest. This was the shallow thinking of a small-minded person with a bureaucratic distrust of people, the kind of thinking that can be found in any historical period. Zishan responded, however, that preventing people from expressing themselves was not a way to forestall social instability but rather a way of inciting it and that when people spoke openly about their concerns, their dissatisfactions would not build up. If the chance to express their discontent were blocked, it would accumulate and finally explode, setting off great turmoil. Therefore, when people are dissatisfied, it is good to let them speak out promptly. Furthermore, it would be helpful for the government to hear their complaints. If we listened to what they freely said, we could know accurately what their complaints and demands were. Would this not make governing easier? If the people’s freedom of speech were stopped, the government would become deaf, and they would be angry and restless and watch for an opportunity to rebel. People should never be prevented from meeting in the school buildings, he said.

Zishan’s attitude toward free speech cannot be considered an enunciation of their democratic ideal, which holds freedom of expression as a basic right of the people. Nevertheless, in a time when people were treated as domesticated animals and agricultural management based on slavery was the order of the day, this sort of thinking may be especially noteworthy. Even today there are many rulers in all countries of the world whose thinking about freedom of expression does not measure up to Zishan’s. If he had appeared in this country as finance minister in the final period of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910), his policies and attitude toward expression would have earned him popular regard as a most enlightened, distinguished finance minister. Greedy, brutal, and reactionary rulers crisscross the chapters of history. When we run into leaders like Zishan, who pursued justice and progress for the people in his time, the freshness of their thoughts, which leap across the gap of time and space, strikes a responsive chord. We feel anew the worth of life and understand one reason that mankind has persisted.