Rangoon Bombing

 

It was the most sickening thing I have ever seen – dead, wounded and bloody monks, women and children piled up on gurneys and on the floor of a third world hospital.

Visitor to Rangoon General Hospital

 

The Rangoon Bombing, as it is known, took place in the city of Yangon (formerly Rangoon), Burma. It was timed to coincide with an official visit to the city mausoleum by the President of South Korea, Chun Doo Hwan. However, by a extraordinary twist of fate, the President arrived a few minutes late, just after the bomb had detonated. He was lucky to escape with his life, but others in the crowd that had gathered were not so fortunate: the death toll numbered 21 in total, and 46 more people were injured.

 

‘The Last Post’

 

October 9, 1983, was the day that President Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea was planning to lay a wreath at the tomb of Thankin Aung Sang, as a mark of respect to the former leader of Burma who had been brutally assassinated in 1947. Aung Sang was much respected in Burma, and around the world, as the leader who had negotiated the country’s independence from their colonial masters; today, his daughter Aung Sang Suu Kyi has bravely continued this tradition, following a path of nonviolent resistance to the current oppressive regime in the country.

Before the President arrived at the mausoleum, his aides began to gather there. Many of them were top-ranking officials in the South Korean government, and there were also security personnel, journalists and advisers present. Unbeknown to them, three bombs were hidden in the roof above them. Meanwhile, President Chun was running late for his appointment, his car held up in the city’s busy traffic.

The small crowd waited for the President to arrive, and eventually, his car appeared on the driveway. As it did, a trumpet player struck up The Last Post, practising the tune before the ceremony took place. It was a stroke of good fortune for President Chun that he did, because the bombers, who were watching from a safe distance, took this as a sign that he had arrived in the building, and accordingly, detonated the bombs by remote control.

 

A Legacy of Hatred

 

In the event, only one of the bombs went off, but it was enough to do an enormous amount of damage. Some of the most important people in the South Korean government were killed: the Deputy Prime Minister, Suh Suk Joo, the Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk; and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Kim Dong Whie. In addition, 18 others lay dead, and many more sustained serious injuries. Not only this, but the building was ripped apart by the explosion.

The fact that President Chun had escaped was lucky for him, but it was also a relief in terms of the political dynamics of the region. Many commentators speculated that if he had been killed in the blast, war might once again have broken out between North and South Korea, as had happened in the 1950s with the Korean War. The Korean War, which had been one of the central conflicts of the Cold War, had become a battle for control of the peninsula between the Western Allies, who backed South Korea, and the Soviet Communists, who backed North Korea. It had led to over one million casualties on each side, decimated the populations of both countries, destroyed their infrastructure and economy, and left a legacy of hatred and distrust between the two sides. From that time on, the peninsula had been divided: an extremely repressive Communist regime ruled in the North, while a dictatorial, pro-US government ruled in the South. Between them lay one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world.

 

Suicide By Hand Grenade

 

When the Rangoon bombing took place, suspicion immediately fell on Kim II Sung, leader of North Korea. Since the partition, North Korea had repeatedly been involved in acts of terrorism against South Korea, and this seemed to be another episode in the continuing hostilities between the two nations. President Chun immediately issued a statement linking the North Koreans to the attack. The North Korean Central News Agency retaliated by calling this a ‘preposterous and ridiculous act’. Nevertheless, Chun remained convinced that the bomb was the work of Kim II Sung, and he showed his disgust by deciding to start again a ballistic missile programme, an action that did not bode well for stable relations between the two states.

Initially, there was no direct evidence to link Kim II Sung to the attack. However, two days later, a North Korean suspect was picked up, who tried to blow himself up with a hand grenade. On the same day, Burmese villagers reported the presence of two foreigners in their rural area, and when these men were arrested, they too were found to be North Koreans. They also attempted to blow themselves up with hand grenades, and one of them managed to do so, committing suicide in this way. The two remaining men were taken into custody and confessed that they had been sent as envoys from the North Korean government to carry out the assassination of President Chun.

 

Shoot-Out in the Cabinet

 

To this day, however, the real story behind the Rangoon Bombing has never been fully uncovered. Although it seems likely that the attack was the work of the North Korean government, it was also the case that President Chun had enemies within South Korea, who conceivably could have been responsible for the atrocity.

President Chun Doo Hwan had lived a turbulent life and was no stranger to violence and political intrigue. Born in 1931, he had made his way up through the military, and had set in motion the events leading up to the assassination of his predecessor, Park Chung Hee, who had died in a shoot-out at a secret government meeting. Chun had effected a military coup in 1979, imposed martial law on the country, and dissolved the country’s National Assembly, arresting many political leaders opposed to his views. His government had been responsible for brutally suppressing protests and demonstrations against the regime, notably at Gwangju, in what became known as the Gwangju Massacre.

Despite the bloody way in which he had come to power, President Chun had gone on to rule South Korea in a less autocratic way than had his predecessor Park, and the economy had continued to prosper under his leadership. However, in the mid-1980s, dissent was beginning to grow once more as a new wave of student protests took place, demanding political rights and freedoms. These protests were supported by large sections of the population, especially those who were now earning high incomes and had begun to demand the kind of democratic rights that they saw in the West.

 

Corruption Charges

 

Prompted by the US government, Chun wisely accepted that reforms would have to be made, but his political career remained in jeopardy and eventually he was forced to resign. In 1996, he and his successor Roh were charged, as former presidents, with corruption, and they were also found guilty of treason in connection with the way they had taken over power. Chun was sentenced to death, but this was later changed to life imprisonment, and in the end he was pardoned.

Given Chun’s turbulent career, it was clear that he had plenty of enemies. At the time of the Rangoon Bombing, there could have been any number of factions plotting to kill him within South Korea: from supporters of the previous president, to former opposition leaders, to all kinds of political activists. However, the consensus today is that it was the North Korean government, not dissident elements in the South, that was responsible for the murder.

 

Cult of the Personality

 

The communist regime of Kim II Sung in North Korea had been a constant source of threat to the South Koreans ever since the partition of the peninsula at the end of the World War II. Kim II Sung had distinguished himself during his military career, and he was an undoubtedly a courageous and charismatic man, but as leader of South Korea he presided over one of the most repressive regimes in the world, in which all opposition to the government was brutally quelled. He also instigated a bizarre cult of the personality, in which his subjects were required to call him ‘Eternal Leader’, and which encouraged the belief that he had supernatural powers. Under his regime, North Korea became extremely poor, in contrast to the prosperity of its neighbour in the South, which during the same period experienced a booming economy. By 1994, when Kim II Sung died, North Korea had become almost completely isolated from the rest of the world, so much so that its population were almost entirely unaware of their own backwardness compared to the rapid advances of their neighbours in the South.

 

State Terror

 

As Kim II Sung’s regime continued, he became less dependent on support from the Soviet Union and North Korea began to operate more and more as a maverick state. Not only were the North Koreans suspected of involvement in the Rangoon Bombing of October 1983, they were also thought to be behind the bombing of the Korean passenger plane, Flight 858, in November 1987. In this incident, which took place over the Andaman Sea, the entire crew and passengers of the plane lost their lives, totalling 115 deaths. It was thought that the attack was mounted to frighten away visitors to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and it was also a protest at the fact that the North Koreans had not been invited to co-host the Olympics.

It is not clear whether Kim II Sung himself was personally involved in these acts of state terror, but given his autocratic style of government, it seems likely. Sadly, the situation has not greatly improved in North Korea since his successor, his son Kim Jong-il took over the country in 1994. Today, North Korea continues to be an international pariah, with an appalling record on human rights, nuclear weapons proliferation and many other issues – not the least of which is state terror, as the Rangoon Bombing incident continues to remind us.