Seoul - Ham Sok Hon, sometimes known as the Gandhi of Korea, sprang to his feet to welcome his guest, then swiftly resitted himself on the floor.
His eyes sparkled with such delight at each new thought that he seemed more the leprechaun of his people than their conscience.
"In my opinion the first thing to do is to have freedom of speech," Mr. Ham said. His opinion was the same in the 1930's when he refused to teach his Korean students as the Japanese occupation prescribed; and in the 1940's, when he refused to teach as the North Korean Communists prescribed.
Now his opinion applied once more to the intellectual restrictions of the present South Korean Government.
Portrayal of a country
Actually, Ham Sok Hon isn't much of a political activist. He is more a historical and religious thinker. His study of Korean history (a book banned under present censorship) portrays his country as suffering through the centuries for the sake of all mankind. His nonsectarian Christianity - he is a Quaker - looks for the New Word that will express unchanging truth to this age.
Photo © Norman Thorpe 1973
Nonetheless, Mr. Ham's abstract teachings have a strong political impact.
In a land of Confucian traditions leadership by moral example is compelling. And Mr. Ham's nonviolent defense of human freedoms under every regime he has lived under has earned him wide recognition. Koreans respect this septuagenarian for his refusal to speak official lies in a society where compromise is the usual condition of survival; and they see his half-dozen jailings or house arrest under the Japanese, the North Koreans, Syngman Rhee - and now Park Chung Hee - as the badge of Mr. Ham's integrity. His teachings were an important influence on the student demonstrators who overthrew Syngman Rhee in 1960. Most recently, Ham Sok Nor again risked jail in signing a plea for a return to democracy in South Korea. He and eight colleagues were detained by security officials for a day after they protested "rule of terror" and "dictatorship" in a small rally in a downtown Seoul teahouse.
Altogether 15 senior civic and religious leaders signed the written "pledge that we - will rise up and struggle with all our strength for the thorough restoration of democracy.
"People's conscience and the circumstances of their daily lives have been reduced to nothing by the rule of terror and dictatorship," the statement said.
In the conversation at his house, preceding the rally, Mr. Ham spoke of the need for action and of the bravery of university students who have demonstrated for freedom.
For emphasis
Mr, Ham occasionally slapped the floor for emphasis. His room was familiarly cluttered - with a pile of the traditional loose clothes he always wears, with Korean, Japanese, and English books, with papers in mid composition, a teapot, a forgotten plate of cake, bottles, calligraphy brushes, small bits of sculpture, a reproduction of the Mona Lisa.
"I know nothing about politics, and I have no interest in it," he explained. "But in any situation, how can sincere people be indifferent to political matters?"
He continued ruefully, "Now we cannot meet, we cannot write. . . . I think it's our own fault. . . . Korean intellectuals are not brave enough.
"Deep In our minds we did not want a military regime [when the present government took over in a military coup in 1961]. But no one would criticize and fight it.... Now we are reaping what we sowed."
CIA interview
The telephone rang, and a Korean CIA (secret police) agent informed Mr. Ham that he would be dropping by in half an hour.
Mr. Halit conversed for a few more minutes, then ushered his foreign visitor out of the house. "Flowers are my hobby," he said as his parting words and pointed to the sprawling yellow chrysanthemums." I like them wild, I never chop them off." His eyes twinkled in pleasure, and for the moment the gardener in Ham Sok Hon totally replaced the historian and sage.
This article first appeared in The Christian Science Monitor on November 20, 1973 and is reproduced with permission.
Copyright 1973 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved.
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