A political memoir has South Koreans asking whom politicians serve
A new book by Cho Kuk, a disgraced minister, reignites an old debate about fairness
“IT IS LIKE dipping my pen in my family’s blood,” writes Cho Kuk in the opening lines of “Cho Kuk’s Time”. Mr Cho was forced to resign as South Korea’s justice minister in the autumn of 2019 after just 35 days in office, felled by a scandal that shook the government. In the time-honoured tradition of politicians writing memoirs, he uses his blood-soaked pen to explain how he was wronged, so wronged: Mr Cho and his family were just innocent victims, persecuted by entrenched forces that would stop at nothing to retain their power.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “The book of Cho”
Asia June 26th 2021
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