젊은 북한 안내원 동무에게 들려준 이야기

3:36

 

일러스트=최정진

세브란스병원 국제진료센터장 인요한(64) 박사는 아메리칸-코리안이다. 미국 이름은 존 린턴. 4대째 한국에서 의료·교육 봉사를 해오고 있다. 다음은 ‘한강의 기적, 희생 없는 성공은 없다(Miracle on Han River, no success without sacrifice)’라는 제목으로 그가 코리아타임스에 기고한 글을 간추린 것이다.

 

“북한의 결핵 퇴치를 위해(in a bid to rid North Korea of tuberculosis) 자주 방북했었다. 낡은 도요타 승합차(run-down Toyota van)를 타고 시골에서 평양으로 돌아오던 길이었다. 끼익끽거리는 엔진 소리에(over the whine of the engine) 아무것도 듣기 어려운(be hard to hear much of anything) 상황에서 젊은 안내원이 말을 걸어왔다(strike up a conversation). ‘남조선이 우리보다 앞서 있다던데, 얘기를 들려달라’는 것이었다. 진정한 대답을 듣고 싶냐고 물었더니 그렇다고 했다. 이렇게 말해줬다.

 

‘한국이 발전한 첫 번째 이유는 박정희 덕분이다. 나는 전라도에서 성장했다. 지역적 편견에 사로잡혀(be obsessed with regional prejudices) 경상도 사람은 일본인만큼이나 사악하다고 여겼다. 나이가 들면서 경상도 출신 박정희의 업적을 알게 됐다. 그는 부당한 유신정권을 관철시키고(ram through the unjust Yushin regime) 악명 높은 비상조치(infamous emergency measures) 등 비민주적 행위를 저지른(perpetrate undemocratic acts) 독재 대통령이었다. 그러나 그는 민간 부문의 인재들을 발굴하고 지원해 급속한 경제 발전의 초석을 놓았다(lay the foundation). 새마을운동으로 6·25전쟁이 남긴 피해의식을 떨쳐버리게(shake off the victim mentality) 했다. 정주영·박태준·이병철·김우중·구인회·허만정 등 기업인들이 그 뒤를 받쳐줬다.

 

두번째 이유는 근로자와 군 장병들의 희생이다. 독일에 파견된 광부(miner)와 간호사, 섭씨 50도 숨막히는 중동(Middle East)에서 일했던 건설 노동자, 구로공단에서 하루 16시간 이상 기계 앞에 앉아 있었던 근로자들이 귀중한 외화를 벌어들여(bring in the precious foreign currency) 국가 발전의 길을 닦았다(pave the way). 그게 전부가 아니다(be not the half of it). 베트남 전쟁 참전용사 30만 명 중 전사한 5000여 명, 합병증으로 일찍이 생을 마감한 장병을 합친 1만여 명의 희생도 있었다. 한국의 발전은 근로자들의 땀과 병사들의 피 위에 이뤄진 것이었다.

 

세 번째는 남편과 자식들을 위해 기꺼이 희생한 어머니들 덕분이다. 자신은 못 먹고 못 입어도 근면(deligence)과 절약(thrift)으로 남편을 뒷바라지하며 자식들 교육을 위해 헌신한 당시의 어머니, 오늘날의 할머니들이 ‘한강의 기적’ 원동력(driving force) 중 하나가 됐다.’

 

이렇게 말하자 북한 안내원은 “남조선은 미국에 빌붙어 잘사는(be well off) 것 아니냐”고 했다. ‘그러면 미국과 친밀하고 언어도 영어를 쓰며 한때 한국에 경제 지원까지 해줬던 필리핀은 왜 한국에 뒤떨어졌느냐’고 되물었더니 답이 없었다. 대화의 끝이었다. 평양에 도착할 때까지 우리 둘은 아무 말도 하지 않았다(remain silent).”

[참조 영문 자료 사이트}

☞ https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/08/137_356193.html

 

Miracle on Han River, no success without sacrifice

Posted : 2023-08-02 16:30

Updated : 2023-08-02 16:30

 

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By John Alderman Linton

Around 20 years ago, I started visiting tuberculosis hospitals and sanatoriums in North Korea as part of a campaign to rid the country of that disease. I've been to the North countless times since then.

One night, I was returning to Pyongyang from the countryside in a run-down Toyota van. It was hard to hear much of anything over the whine of the engine, but one of the guides assigned to us by North Korea cautiously struck up a conversation with me.

"I'm told South Korea is a little ahead of us. If that's true, can you tell me about it?" The question caught me completely off guard.

During the Gwangju Uprising, I was framed as one of the agitators behind the demonstrations there simply because I did some interpretation for the citizen committee one day. During the rule of Chun Doo-hwan in the Fifth Republic, I spent two painful years under the watchful eyes of plainclothes policemen.

So for a moment, I was worried that speaking favorably of South Korea in the North might lead to me being jailed or deported. Eventually, I asked the young guide if he wanted a real answer. He seemed sincere in his curiosity, so I decided to humor him.

The first reason South Korea is doing so well, I told the young guide, is thanks to Park Chung-hee.

I'd grown up in Jeolla Province (in the southwest) and picked up regional prejudices as a child. In all honesty, I used to regard people from Gyeongsang Province (in the southeast) as being almost as bad as the Japanese. Of course, when I was a little older, I learned about the accomplishments of Park Chung-hee, a native of Gyeongsang Province.

Park was an autocratic president who rammed through the unjust Yushin regime and perpetrated many undemocratic acts, including the infamous emergency measures. But he still deserves credit for being the first Korean leader in 5,000 years to prioritize the private sector instead of the public sector.

When I asked my young guide if he knew about Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, he said he knew about Chung's donation of 1,001 cows to North Korea. But I pointed out that Chung wasn't the only figure of his kind in South Korea ― there was also POSCO founder Park Tae-joon, Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, Daewoo founder Kim Woo-choong and LG cofounders Koo In-hwoi and Huh Man-jung.

Park Chung-hee's greatest accomplishment, I explained, was choosing talented people from the private sector to receive government backing and laying the foundation for the South Korean economy's rapid development. He also launched the Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement), which helped Koreans shake off the victim mentality left by the Korean War. The president made a point of sharing a bowl of rice wine with farmers on the edge of a rice paddy, inspiring all Koreans with hope and the idea that they could prosper.

The second reason South Korea prospered was because of the immense sacrifices made by its workers. Overseas, there were the nurses and miners who took jobs in Germany and the construction workers who worked in sweltering 50-degree weather in the Middle East. And at home, there were the workers at Guro Industrial Park who remained seated at their sewing machines for 16 or more hours a day.

I enthusiastically explained how it was those workers' sacrifices that enabled exports to the United States. That was how South Korea brought in the precious foreign currency that paved the way for national development.

That's not the half of it. The records show that more than 5,000 of the 300,000 South Koreans who were sent to the Vietnam War died in the fighting. That tally would rise above 10,000 if those who died later from complications of trauma were included.

In short, South Korea's development was built on the sweat of its workers and the blood of its soldiers.

Third, I told my young guide that South Korea's strength derives not from men but from women. The country's development was due to our mothers. It was made possible by the value they placed on diligence, thrift and education, and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the success of their husbands and children.

The mothers of that time are the grandmothers of today. I think the majority of South Korea's grandmothers should be honored for their contribution to the nation.

Those three things, I concluded, were the driving force behind the "Miracle on the Han River."

After listening to my account, the young guide countered with a theory of his own. "That's not how I see things. I think you just chose the right side. We sided with Russia, with the Soviets, and South Korea sided with the United States. That's why you're so well off."

He seemed to think South Korea's strength was not its own, but only borrowed from the United States.

When I train medical students, I often pose questions to help them realize the errors in their thinking. That's the approach I took with my young guide.

"You know about the Philippines, right? While we were at war with you North Koreans, the Philippines helped out by sending a lot of soldiers to the battlefront. Even after the war, they helped us economically by building Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul."

"The Philippines has been aligned with the United States for a century now. Now you tell me why they're not prosperous today."

My young guide didn't have an answer for that.

That put an end to our conversation, and we remained silent for the hour or so that remained of our drive back to Pyongyang.

While I'd offered a logical rebuttal to my young guide's idea, he seemed unwilling to give up his misconception. But I appreciated his question nonetheless, since it allowed me to ponder the nature of the Miracle on the Han River and how exactly it came to be.


John Alderman Linton, an American-Korean whose Korean name is Ihn Yo-han, is a director at Yonsei University Severance Hospital International Health Care Center.