Signs of the Coming Spring.

For a long time I have dreamed of a unification of God and revolution; of a unification of bread and freedom, earth and heaven, prayer and action. And now I am experiencing this vision more vividly than ever.

The immediate historical problem of the Korean people is the unification of North and South. However, this is not simply a question of linking the territories back together. The authentic unification of the people themselves is the essential basis of the philosophy of unity of which I dream. It is only through unity that our people can live; it is only through unity that we can conquer oppression from within and from without the country, and arrive at a world of true fraternity. This unity can by no means be achieved by makeshift artifice or stratagems, nor by forcing things. What is called for is an entirely new philosophy, an entirely new spirit, and the emergence of a fundamentally new human being. It is for this that I am crying out like a madman in this courtroom. The ultimate objective of this philosophy of unity is the state of what Christianity calls koinonia.

The Christian philosophy of non-violence and its teaching of love must be mobilized to awaken the people’s consciousness. This must not be carried out in the realm of tactical negotiation and compromise, but must be a true unification. The resentment of the lower depths--the same people that the Bible calls “the least of these, my brethren”--and the blood of Christ must be joined into one. For those who have suffered under the immorality of starvation and tyranny, this is the way to the restoration of humanity. And I believe that this is the true form of the revolutionary religion which seeks to put the teachings of Jesus Christ into practice in the modern world.

The division between the North and the South, which has already lasted for an entire generation, is not only the greatest symbol, but also the principle cause which maintains and preserves all the splits and contradictions which control our lives. The established orders of the North and South are equally responsible for preventing the true fraternity common to all humanity from being realized among the people and within the nation.

The Park government has made a superficial pretense of desiring unification, and of promoting dialogue between the North and South, but it has long been known that this was only deception to prolong the regime.

More recently, the government has been publicly maneuvering to stabilize and perpetuate the partition. This Park regime is the greatest obstacle to Korean unification, and is the faithful servant of the neo-colonial powers which desire the continued partition and division of the Korean people. To achieve unification, we must begin by exposing this fact, bringing it out into the open and making it clear. It is entirely natural that the Park regime responds to these efforts of ours with imprisonment and execution. Therefore I think that ultimately, as long as this regime lasts, the only path to unification is the path to Westgate prison. At least I believe that there is no other way for me; my life in prison for the last three years has had its own significance.

However, the disintegration of dictatorship in both the North and the South is inevitable. Given that, and considering all the conditions, I believe that the National Democratic Revolution will occur first in the South. I am no prophet, but I can say with confidence that the day will come soon when the dictatorial regime, which represses and exploits the people, will disintegrate into nothing; that freedom of speech, press, and assembly will be resurrected; that the Anti-Communist Law will be abolished; and that all the young people, the young flowers who have been held captive in prison, will be released.

The bright Spring of Athens is coming to call on the Republic of Korea. And when the Spring of Athens has visited the South, it will then urge change upon the North. Whether in the form of intra-party democracy, or whether through some other form of popular awakening, in any case, the Spring of Prague will come to the North as well. In this way the Spring of Athens and the Spring of Prague will gradually envelop the entire Korean peninsula, and a single, great overflowing Spring will be achieved in our land. The approach--and the welcoming--of this bright, radiant Spring: this is the unification of which I dream.

Some might think that these are simply the ravings of a madman. However, in my vision of unification, I am convinced that the signs of the approaching radiant Spring on this peninsula can already be seen.

This is an abridgment of Korean poet Kim Chi Ha’s final statement in court, December 23, 1976.