The birth of the republic of Korea and my Life

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A Beacon of Hope for the Restoration of Truth T.S. Chang (whose art name was Changrang, loosely translated from Korean is “Deep Blue Wave”) autobiography, The Birth of the Republic of Korea and My Life, was published in September 1992, 23 years after my father's passing, coinciding with the launch of the T.S. Chang Memorial Society (Chairman Kim Sang-man). The autobiography was composed by my elder sister Byeong-hye and me, both of us most dearly loved by our father, based on my father's memoir titled Recording the Entire Truth (1965). We gathered his letters written during his lifetime and the eulogies written after his passing and produced a limited edition of non-commercial copies. Consequently, it is likely that few people currently own this autobiography or even know of its existence. For this reason, as we approach 2025, we have decided to republish this autobiography to share my father's story with a wider audience. The more decisive reason is that in 1992, while I was preparing my father's autobiography, a shocking incident occurred that left me in a state of confusion, and I have always felt regret and guilt for not being able to do more to ensure the accuracy of my father's autobiography. The shocking incident came like a bolt from the blue. On April 26, 1992, in The JoongAng Ilbo's “Sunday Interview,” Park Young-seok, the chairman of the National Institute of Korean History, stated, “Ahn Doo-hee, the perpetrator of the assassination of Kim Ku (his art name was Baekboem), was merely a follower of anti-national elements. Military high-ranking officer Kim Chang-ryong, the head of the Korean Counter-Intelligence Corps, and Noh Deok-sul, the head of the Criminal Investigation Division at the Police, were of intermediate rank, while T.S. Chang, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was at the top.” Additionally, his father, Jang Seung-won, was a notorious pro-Japanese collaborator who had been executed by Park Sang-jin, the commander-in-chief of the Korean Independence Army." He made this statement as if it were an established historical fact. After this editorial was published, the reaction from society at the time was truly remarkable. The head of the highest specialized institution responsible for compiling Korean history had officially released the article to a prominent daily newspaper. This same media mogul whose sole purpose is to disseminate factual content to the public, had immediately published this extremely controversial topic without even applying a minimal effort to appropriate and professional fact checking. This resulted in other major media outlets rushing to follow suit by reporting similar disparaging and defaming content. The damming content did not stop there as TV and other mass media outlets consequently used these printed articles and editorials as content for dramas, and special programing touted as a “History Special”. These “History Specials” were aired in a series, misleading the public to accept the programming as historical fact. Thereby creating the stigma that my grandfather and my uncles were pro-Japanese collaborators and anti-national elements. Broadcasting, news outlets, and other mass media institutions have long been charged with purifying society through exposing corruption and wrongdoing have forgotten their mission by becoming a beacon for propaganda, puffery, and disinformation. This grave issue remains largely unchanged over many decades creating a greater concern about the validity of content with the public and those who are involved with the direction of the South Korean Nation. Many fictitious reports continue to be disseminated to the public with reckless abandon that have had severe consequences such as the targeting of President Park Geun-hye following the Sewol Ferry disaster which led to the first ever impeachment in the history of South Korea Similarly, contrary to the erroneous claims of certain sectors of our society, my father, T.S. Chang, dedicated his entire life to t…

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