The Five Bandits’ by Kim Chi-Ha Crimes Review

‘The Five Bandits’ is a poem by Kim Chi-Ha, published in 1970. It highlights the injustices that were happening in South Korea, particularly under the Park Chung-Hee regime. At the start of the poem, the ‘five bandits’ are represented by individuals holding golf clubs. Each of them is focused on winning using different techniques depending on one’s stature. The poem highlights the various vices and atrocities that were happening under the South Korean government of that time, which included corruption and massacres, and hence the crimes committed by the mentioned bandits are related to Park Chung-Hee’s authoritarian regime as in custom thesis writing

The first bandit portrayed in the poem is dressed in a suit made of banknotes. He has got a golden watch and golden teeth, and the author introduces him as the business tycoon. He proudly steps forth to play the game. The second bandit is accompanied by his companions, who are members of the National Assembly. His friends are hunchbacks, monkeys, foxes, and some dogs. All of them seem agitated and are shouting political slogans while waving their golf clubs. They look like revolutionaries, but the message of their chanting is contradicting and encouraging more injustices. The third is a politician who is huge in size and has viperous eyes. When offered sweets, the bandit rejects them, although his teeth are apparently decaying because of taking too many sweets. He then sits on a big chair at a huge table as he contradicts himself by saying ‘no’ with one hand while the other says ‘thank you.’ The fourth character is depicted as a gorilla that has a large army behind him. He has a tiger’s mouth, medals on his chest, and carries a pistol. He feeds his army using stolen rice, pigs, and cows. The last bandit has his allies, who are ministers, and their deputies, who wave their golf clubs and openly fondle the breasts of their mistresses. They aim at making people work towards more production, which will only benefit the officials.

Kim acted as the voice of millions of South Koreans who were going through a harsh dictatorial rule. In the 1970’s, the nation had many political detainees, several people were being oppressed by the regime, and the Park government’s framework relates to the depiction made of ‘the five bandits.’ The government officials did not seem to be focused on eliminating the atrocities as they omitted the implementation of favorable laws through the National Assembly. In the poem, the second bandit is told to have had allies in the National Assembly who chanted ironical slogans. For example, they shouted ‘Revolution from old evil to new evil!’ Park government constantly insisted on their dedication to implement new laws which would enhance the judicial system and improve on democracy, yet there was little effort from government officials to work towards the cause. Domestic violence still continued to be inflicted on innocent citizens by Park regime, which led to the execution of many students who were considered to be communists. The crimes perpetrated by the second bandit are hence related to the authoritarian rule led by Park, who often spoke on the need for democracy but never passed laws through the National Assembly in order to eradicate oppression.

The fourth bandit is depicted as a gorilla with a huge army that is managed through public resources, which are meant for the laborers. The arms members are also denied their fundamental rights as the general uses the rice and building materials, intended to be delivered to the barracks, for his personal financial gain. The soldiers who dared to resist the governance of the ‘gorilla’ and leave the barracks were imprisoned and mercilessly beaten. Park is known to have imperious demands that he wanted to be met through military action which led to the bloody coup of 1961, when he rose to power. South Korea was going through an economic crisis before the coup, and hence the violence only made the situation worse. If Park regime cared about the welfare of the South Korean citizens, then they would have sought other democratic ways of negotiating with the government in power to avoid the coup massacres and a worsened economic crisis. However, just like in the poem, his aim was to get the authority while his soldiers were being killed on the battlefield. Although Park made remarkable efforts to stabilize South Korea’s economy later, the crimes perpetrated during his rise to power can be compared to those committed by the fourth bandit.

As Park was implementing the nation’s economic reforms, he got involved in some business dealings that could be compared to the third bandit. Just like the latter in the poem was taking from the public with one hand and acting innocently using the other hand, Park was improving South Korea’s economy while taking away from the country’s laborers. The president had spies all over South Korea, and those who went against his economic views were tortured and sometimes even executed. Just like how the bandit in the poem refused to take sweets from the subjects, yet his teeth served as an evidence that he had a sweet tooth, South Korea’s economy steadily grew although Park still insisted on the government investing in unsustainable industries. He forced government subsidies on the big industries like steel production and manufacture of ships and automobiles. However, most of the South Korean population depended on smaller industries like textile. The trend led to the rise of chaebols to counter Park’s repressive business ideologies. Therefore, just like the third bandit, Park had a perpetual mask when dealing with economic matters, and most of the policies used were beneficial for the president and senior officials as compared to the laborers.

Park Chung-Hee’s authoritarian rule thus had some setbacks that are related to the bandits highlighted by Kim Chi-Ha in ‘The Five Bandits’. The author was known for his political involvement, especially in his writings, Thus, considering the date of the poem’s publication, there is a vivid relationship between the text and what was happening in South Korea during Park’s governance.