'범죄'의 재구성 : 1977년 무등산 철거반원 살해 사건을 둘러싼 물음들

Abstract

2013년 광주의 무등산이 국립공원으로 지정되었다. 광주역 광장에 는 경축 무등산 국립공원 지정이라는 조형물이 세워지고, 지역 신문들도 무등산 국립공원 지정이 무등산의 브랜드 향상은 물론 광주가 갖고 있는 민주, 인권, 그리고 평화의 이미지가 재정립되어 광주의 이미지도 고양될 것이라며 반기는 추세다(<광주일보> 2013. 1. 8). 하지만 이런 축하의 물결 속에서 지금으로부터 30여 년 전, 무등산 도립공원 지정과 맞물려 진행된 종합개발계획의 일환으로 추진되었던 철거사업이 빚어낸 비극적인 사건을 이야기하는 목소리는 들리지 않는다.

The purpose of the current manuscript is to reconstruct the homicide case that occurred in the foothill of Mudeung mountain in Gwangju city in 1977. The cultprit, Mr. Park Heungsook, was sentenced to death and hanged for killing 4 wrecking crews by swinging a hammer on their head. Dubbed as Mudeung mountain Tarzan, he was portrayed as a cold-blooded murderer by the contemporary mass media. Two questions arise: Why did such a horrid homicide occur in the remote foothill of a mountain? and How did the contemporary Korean society view this case?. In an attempt to answer the questions, I focused on the political and economic background of the rapid development that Gwangju and Korean society was going through in late 1970s. In the next section, I tried to identify the Korean version of the mechanism of distinguishing normality and abnormality that universally operates in the process of economic and social development across socieities. It is worth noting that once the culprit was identified as a shaman, the contemporary Korean mass media did not hesitate to diagnose him as a monstrous lunatic. However, this label was not based on a formal psychoanalytic diagnosis, which served as the primary tool for distinguishing abnormal individuals from normal citizens in Western societies in late 19th century. Although it is not deniable that Mr. Park committed homicide, it is worth questioning whether the contemporary Korean society was willing to appreciate that a subaltern had no choice but to resort to violence against the government-sponsored injustice afflicted upon him. In this sense, it is important to make special note of Mr. Park's court struggle since it was the only chance given to the subaltern whose voice had been denied in the process of redevelopment that ultimately wrecked his house. Reinquiry of the Mudeung mountain Tarzan's homicide case provides a revelation as to how Korean socity should view the current redevelopment of urban slum, which is wrecking another generation of urban poor's right to housing.