Dictatorship and Democracy

The secretary of the Bishops' Committee for Reconciliation with the  North has some thoughts in the North/South Reconciliation column of the Catholic Times— problems we face in overcoming our prejudices.

The Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society was the first foreign mission society established in the United States in June 1911 and was active in the Pyongyang region of North Korea since the 1920s. However, when the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, the United States became an enemy of Japan, and all members in Joseon (Korea) were forcibly deported to their home countries.  

Syngman Rhee, who was the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea at the time, was engaged in the independence movement on a diplomatic level. Monsignor Carroll, who maintained a close relationship with Syngman Rhee even after the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea, recalled that he supported Syngman Rhee's independence movement, a "patriot in exile". However, in June 1952, a diary written by the Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society in Pusan reveals the missionaries' changed their views on the Syngman Rhee government.

 

"With election day approaching, people are very anxious. The coercive government arrested members of parliament on uncertain charges. The Constitution calls for (presidential) elections by the National Assembly to be held before June 23rd, of course Assembly members in prison will not be able to vote for a new president."

 

The "Political Upheaval in Pusan" during the Korean War was an event that was difficult for the US government to accept. The US Department of State Information and Investigation Bureau data that recorded this mentions that martial law was declared in Pusan and other areas on May 25, 1952, and that the Syngman Rhee regime arrested some members of the National Assembly and pushed for a constitutional amendment. American missionaries of the Maryknoll Foreign Missions Society looked closely at the ‘Political Upheaval in Pusan’ and compared the situation in Korea, where the government cannot be recklessly criticized, to past totalitarian governments of Europe.

 

Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian well-known for his  ‘Christian Realism’, expressed the dangers that democracy must be vigilant in his book: Children of Light and Children of Darkness. In this book  he wrote as follows: "In a sense, it can be said that democratic societies are particularly exposed to the dangers of chaos. If this danger is not properly recognized, it can engulf free societies and give rise to the evil of tyranny."

 

Let's pray for the democracy of this land built at the sacrifice of countless people. The writer hopes that we can work together for democracy in the entire Korean Peninsula beyond a rigid anti-communism without dialogue, so that unstable inter-Korean relations do not threaten democracy in the Republic of Korea. 

  

Postscript:  (Taken from  the Maryknoll Archives On Monsignor Carroll)

"At the end of World War II he returned to Korea as acting Society Superior and became Group Superior. In June, 1950 he became chaplain of the United Nations Forces. Later, as the forces under General MacArthur swept north and Pyongyang was recaptured, Rome named Monsignor Carroll as acting administrator of the Pyongyang Diocese previously staffed by Maryknoll. He was thus entitled to be called Monsignor. During this time he helped to establish the U.S.O. in Korea. When the Korean military action ended and Pyongyang returned to the Communists, Monsignor Carroll became involved in relief work of various kinds and eventually was the Catholic Relief Services representative in Korea. He was a good administrator. From 1952 he was full-time in Catholic Relief Services activity and had many opportunities to be of service to the needy. He represented the Korean Bishops’ Conference on a trip to Latin America to ascertain emigration possibilities and was a pillar of strength to fellow Maryknollers in his CRS position."