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| Former President Choi Kyu-hah / Korea Times file |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The recently aired tvN drama series "Reply 1988," which portrayed the lives of a number of typical Korean families from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, was praised for its accurate recreation of those times. But of the characters' houses in the show, the dwelling of class clown Ryu Dong-ryong has a more interesting history than the others.
The house, appeared in episodes 10 and 15, was once the residence of Choi Kyu-hah, who served as the president of the 10th administration from December 1979 to August 1980. As this fact was publicized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the building in Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, is drawing more visitors than ever since it was opened to the public, mostly fans of "Reply 1988".
Who was Choi Kyu-hah?
Choi served in Cheong Wa Dae for about nine months, from Dec. 21, 1979 to Aug. 16, 1980, the shortest term among the 11 presidents. Due to his short time in office, there are fewer studies or records about his presidency.
Along with the country's second president, Yun Po-sun, who led the fourth administration, Choi is regarded as a "straw boss," because his government was more of a caretaker administration tasked with managing the country after his predecessor Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country with an iron fist for some 18 years after was assassinated on October 26 1979, until Chun Doo-hwan, who took power through a military coup on Dec. 12, the same year.
Though Choi is remembered as a weak president with no political base ― he is the nation's only politically independent president ― with some even likening him to a "puppet," his abilities or achievements as a civil servant and a diplomat are highly praised, with aides to Choi or other persons close to him describing him as an upright bureaucrat, not a politician crafty enough to become a country's chief.
Born in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on July 16, 1919, Choi studied English in Tokyo and politics and had a university-level education in administration in Manchuria in the 1930s. Since the school in Manchuria was an institution for nurturing bureaucrats for Manchuria, Choi also became one, which raises questions as to whether he was involved in pro-Japanese activities. After Korea was liberated from 36-year Japanese colonial rule in 1945, he became a professor at the College of Education of Seoul National University.
A year later, he began working for the government as food and agriculture section chief of the United States Army Military Government in Korea, a key position involved with food policy. After the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, he started his career as a diplomat in 1951 because his diplomatic skills, as well as his good command of the English language, were recognized.
He then served as consul general at the Korean Mission to Japan (the predecessor to the Korean Embassy to Japan) and was later acting foreign minister from 1959. After the May 16 Coup in 1960, in which Park Chung-hee took the country's helm, he was briefly sidelined as part of Park's move to replace a number of men who served under former President Syngman Rhee, but his diplomatic ability was again recognized by Park and he was appointed as presidential diplomatic advisor in 1963 and then Ambassador to Malaysia in 1964.
After returning home, he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1967 and closely supported Park as presidential special assistant in foreign affairs in 1971.
Choi's diplomatic ability was well shown in Korea's dealing with the 1973 global oil crisis, in which the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. Choi visited Saudi Arabia at the end of that year to persuade the country's king and have the exporters increase oil exports to Korea.
As he saw more success in his bureaucratic career, he was appointed as the Prime Minister in December 1975. According to Choi's former aides, Choi reportedly showed no political ambition and this led Park, who sought a long-term seizure of the power, to consider Choi as a good candidate to succeed Kim Jong-pil, who resigned as prime minister on a health issue. And then turbulence in Choi's political career began.
After President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his own intelligence chief in 1979, Choi became the acting head of the country until he was elected president in a Dec. 6 ballot conducted by delegates of the National Conference for Unification that year.
Scholars and historians say that Choi was "enthroned" by members of Hanahoe, an unofficial private group of military officers headed by Army Major Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, who seized de facto control of the military through a Dec. 12, 1979, coup and later became the president, because Choi had no interest in absolute power, while having an international reputation.
About the coup, Choi is known to have refused authority for Chun to arrest Gen. Jeong Seung-hwa, then-Army chief of staff, but was finally forced to give his consent. After the coup, Chun and Gen. Roh Tae-woo, who later succeeded Chun as president, and other Hanahoe members emerged as core forces and posed increased pressure to Choi.
In May 17, 1980, Chun expanded martial law to the entire nation and became the de facto ruler of the country. The next morning, college students in Gwangju crashed with Army soldiers guarding their school gates and this later expanded to the bloody pro-democracy move called the Gwangju Uprising.
On Aug. 16, Choi had to resign from the presidency and after this refrained from further involvement in political activities, except to serve as the nominal chairman of the State Affairs Advisory Council from 1981 to 1988. Despite mixed views regarding his political service, there is a consensus that he was the nation's chief throughout the most tumultuous era of the nation's modern history but had his hands tied up and couldn't prevent the massacre in Gwangju from taking place.
Later, he was asked to provide testimony at a public hearing about the Gwangju Uprising at the National Assembly in 1988, but refused to talk, prompting harsh criticism for adopting the stance of "onlooker".
In his reclusive post-presidential life, he mostly stayed in his house, looking after his wife Hong Ki, who suffered from Alzheimer's for about eight years. After she passed away in July 2004, Choi's health also began to fail and he died on Oct. 22, 2006.
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| The lounge of former President Choi Kyu-hah's house in Seogyo-dong, Seoul |
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| The study room of Choi's house |
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| The kitchen of Choi's house |
The house
Built in 1972 and acquired by Choi the following year, the three-story house (two floors on the ground and one basement) embodies Choi's character, with evidence of thrift and saving.
Currently located next to the Seogyo-dong Community Center, the house was Choi's residence for about 30 years ― from 1973 to 1976, when he was appointed as prime minister and moved to the minister's residence in Samcheong-dong, and from 1980, when he resigned as the president, to 2006, when he died at the age of 88.
The 330 square-meter house is typical of popular urban houses in the 1970s and the personal belongings on display show Choi's frugal and simple lifestyle.
In an interview conducted by staffers at Yonsei University Institute of State Governance Studies, Jeong Gi-ok, one of Choi's former presidential protocol secretaries said, "Choi almost had an obsession about being frugal."
"He had no hobbies at all. He didn't drink or play golf. The only pleasure of his life was smoking. Indeed, he was a chain smoker, puffing away about two to three packs a day, though he quit in his later days," Jeong said.
Indeed, the collections there seemed to be more befitting of an ordinary grand parents' house in the 1980s, rather than a former president's house ― and that is why one commentator there said "you can easily find middle-aged visitors indulging in their own reminiscences about their youth." The only extraordinary things are the many rare lighters and ashtrays collected from all around the world by Choi who was a heavy smoker.
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| A 30-year old electric fan / Korea Times file |
On the second floor, where guest rooms were remodeled for exhibitions, visitors can see Choi's suit that he wore when he announced his resignation from the presidency, Choi's ID cards, his lighters, a Hansando cigarette pack that he loved, and a Citizen watch he used from the 1940s.
Many of Choi's former belongings that have historical significance were sent to the National Archives of Korea, including: worn out blankets, a 50-year old electric fan, 30-year old sofa, a memo pad that he made out of old calendars, dishware and other goods.
In the basement, there is a briquette boiler which still works. During the 1973 oil crisis, Choi pledged to miners at Jangseong Coal Mine in Gangwon Province that "I will use briquettes for entire of my life in order not to forget your hard work" and he kept his promise.
Due to his frugal lifestyle, Choi reportedly suffered financial hardships in his later days.
The house was registered as cultural heritage in Oct. 10, 2010, and purchased from Choi's family by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in July, 2009. It went public on Nov. 5, 2013, and is available for visit except for every Monday, New Year's Day, Seollal (Lunar New Year which falls on Feb. 8 this year), and Chuseok holiday. Comments are available in Korean and there is no entrance charge.
