After Watching 'I Am Roh Moo-hyun'

- There are spoilers, but there are more of my own thoughts. -

My mother once said that she thinks the period in which a reevaluation of 'Roh Moo-hyun' is taking place is too early. It was something she said a while ago when talk of this film came up. I thought a little differently. It's been nearly 10 years now since the Roh Moo-hyun administration ended, and 8 years have passed since he left this world, so it can be seen as a point at which a span of time — short if you call it short, long if you call it long — has elapsed. Moreover, in my personal view, I think the reevaluation of former President Roh Moo-hyun can be seen as a social change that occurred with various factors intertwined. Because former President Roh's unpretentious image and his efforts to communicate, which can be contrasted with the 'non-communication' of previous administrations, couldn't help but be 'reevaluated.' His qualities as a leader, contrasted with a closed-off government that doesn't communicate, I suppose. Well, that's how it is.

- A brief film talk and the thoughts it brings -

In truth, I've encountered documentary films a few times — not many, but a few — but a documentary film about a single 'person' like this is my first. Moreover, it's because taking on the story of a person who was the politician and president 'Roh Moo-hyun' and who was once a lawyer isn't an easy thing. The film director clearly conveyed the message 'this is the part I'm trying to show you' by showing Roh Moo-hyun in the 'Democratic Party primary' and the Roh Moo-hyun who had earlier run for office in Busan for the sake of 'East-West reconciliation and dismantling regionalism.' It was a documentary film that completely excluded the events during his time in office, and contained the events up to his taking office and the stories of the people who worked alongside him.

For a person like 'Roh Moo-hyun,' I think the voluntary community (fan club) called 'Nosamo' were the people who exercised the greatest power that enabled him to become president. I think the expression 'grassroots democracy' suits this 'Nosamo' best, and as the Nosamo members in the film say, that year was a year in which the things they envisioned all came true; it was a time when they traveled all over the regions to make 'Roh Moo-hyun' the Democratic Party's presidential candidate; and they seem to have been people who worked without receiving money, voluntarily, for the sake of 'Roh Moo-hyun.' At that time I didn't have much interest in 'politics,' and on top of that I was very young. It was hard to understand the very concept of citizen-centered politics, of a 'national primary,' and I don't even remember properly hearing such stories. Also, since there weren't any Democratic Party members within my family, I don't recall having seen these things through the newspaper either. However, seeing the records of that time again like this in footage, it felt to me like encountering things I hadn't known.

In truth, as a Gwangju person, as a Honam person, regarding 'East-West reconciliation,' 'May 18,' 'regional discrimination,' 'regional sentiment,' and so on, I've vaguely held the thought that Honam has continued to be marginalized, and it's still ongoing. In fact, looking at the scale of regional economies and states of development, excluding Gyeongsang Province, you can only say that Gangwon / Chungcheong / Jeolla have been continuously excluded. However, when I think about why this manifested as 'East-West' regional sentiment, I can only say that the residue of the era of the two Kims and the discord between the two men, along with the Gyeongbu-axis-centered development of the Park Chung-hee regime, created it. Also, the foolishness of many citizens in electing Roh Tae-woo plays a part as well. I can only say these are traces of the past military regime era when people thought of 'industrialization' but failed to properly achieve 'democratization.' However, these days there are also many more people who hold a different perspective on such matters, and I think the value of former President Roh Moo-hyun is being remembered through the things by which his epochal historical significance has come to be re-illuminated.

P.S. Personally, President Moon Jae-in's words were impressive. Hmm, a closeness such that you can read a person's worries just by looking at their writing — President Moon Jae-in said that because former President Roh wasn't the type to write so concisely, he could guess that countless thoughts must have gone into it before the writing was even produced. The fact that he had such a close friend seems to connect with former President Roh's words that 'since I have Moon Jae-in as a friend, I think he has what it takes to be president.'