Should the Benedict Arnold of South Korea Receive Praise?

Kim Won-bong is basically the Benedict Arnold of South Korea. I think it is okay to record his military contributions as part of the historical record, but his treason should be part of the historical record as well instead of just receiving praise for his anti-Japanese activities:

The Ministry of National Defense said Monday it was reviewing a request from its research arm to include details of Kim Won-bong’s fight for Korea’s independence in the historical records of the Korean military on its official website.

Kim was the leader of a secret society fighting for independence. He and his associates became undercover operatives for the Korean provisional government in China from the late 1930s to early 1940s. But Kim later went to North Korea, where he earned commendations from Pyongyang for his efforts in the Korean War.

“The ministry understands there is a need to record the late Kim Won-bong’s activities if they turn out to be based on historical facts,” ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told reporters in a briefing at the ministry’s headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. 

A request was made last year by the Institute for Military History for the current history on the ministry website to be revised to include some facts about Kim’s activities including his creation of the anti-Japanese Korean Volunteer Corps in 1938 in Wuhan, China. Kim was later appointed deputy commander of the Korean Liberation Army in 1942 and served until 1945. 

Currently, the ministry’s records only state certain facts such as those on the late independence activist Ahn Jung-geun and his assassination of then-Japanese Resident-General Hirobumi Ito in 1909, or the foundation of the provisional government in 1919, in the history before the 1945 liberation of Korea from colonial rule.

The historical assessment on Kim, however, remains controversial as he became a North Korean military commander in 1948 and fought against South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. He was said to have helped strengthen Kim Il-sung’s regime in North Korea before being purged in 1958.

Controversy surrounding Kim has recently resurfaced following President Moon Jae-in’s June 6 Memorial Day speech at Seoul National Cemetery, where he gave credit to him for his activities. 

Korea Times

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