South Korea’s Conversion Policy against Leftist Prisoners: Regime Security and Politics of Thought Control in Cold War Korea
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This article analyzes South Korea’s conversion policy toward leftist political prisoners under the Park Chung-hee regime, particularly following the implementation of the Yushin Constitution in 1972. The policy, which evolved into a coercive and violent apparatus, required prisoners to submit written statements renouncing their ideological beliefs. These individuals, often held in special facilities segregated from the general prison population, were subjected to systemic efforts aimed at enforcing ideological conformity. Despite the absence of any immediate political threat, the state’s emphasis on forced conversion stemmed from its desire to assert ideological superiority over North Korea. South Korea’s policy of ideological conversion can be traced back to Japan’s Public Order Preservation Law of 1925 and the Tennō system. Unlike Japan’s emphasis on reform and reintegration, South Korea employed coercion and demanded complete ideological surrender. However, this approach failed to dismantle the ideological convictions or moral stance of the political prisoners, and in many cases, served only to reinforce them.
Abstract
This article analyzes South Korea’s conversion policy toward leftist political prisoners under the Park Chung-hee regime, particularly following the implementation of the Yushin Constitution in 1972. The policy, which evolved into a coercive and violent apparatus, required prisoners to submit written statements renouncing their ideological beliefs. These individuals, often held in special facilities segregated from the general prison population, were subjected to systemic efforts aimed at enforcing ideological conformity. Despite the absence of any immediate political threat, the state’s emphasis on forced conversion stemmed from its desire to assert ideological superiority over North Korea. South Korea’s policy of ideological conversion can be traced back to Japan’s Public Order Preservation Law of 1925 and the Tennō system. Unlike Japan’s emphasis on reform and reintegration, South Korea employed coercion and demanded complete ideological surrender. However, this approach failed to dismantle the ideological convictions or moral stance of the political prisoners, and in many cases, served only to reinforce them.