Kim Won-woong, President of Gwangbokhoe, "It Seems There Are Pro-Japanese Protectionist Politicians Within the Democratic Party"

Kim Won-woong, President of the Liberation Association, visited the funeral hall of the late Baek Ki-wan, Director of the Unification Issues Research Institute, set up at Seoul National University Hospital last October, and responded to reporters' questions after paying his respects. Photo by Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] Kim Won-woong, chairman of the Liberation Association, pointed to a specific lawmaker, saying, "It seems that there are a small number of people and politicians within the Democratic Party of Korea who protect pro-Japanese collaborators."

On the 1st, Chairman Kim appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and mentioned that the Democratic Party of Korea did not adopt the 'Pro-Japanese Collaborators' Tomb Removal Act' (Amendment to the National Cemetery Act) as a party policy, saying, "It seems that the Democratic Party leadership has not yet fully unified opinions within the party."

The Pro-Japanese Collaborators' Tomb Removal Act includes provisions that prohibit 'pro-Japanese anti-national collaborators,' as determined by the Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Anti-National Acts, from being interred in national cemeteries, and requires the relocation of graves outside the national cemetery upon loss of eligibility for interment.

Chairman Kim added, "It is said that a Democratic Party member of the National Assembly from Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, made remarks questioning 'Why make such a law?'"

Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, is the constituency of Democratic Party members of the National Assembly Chun Jun-ho (Gangbuk-gap) and Park Yong-jin (Gangbuk-eul).

Earlier, regarding the Pro-Japanese Collaborators' Tomb Removal Act last year, Representative Park stated, "In a situation where the world is changing at the speed of light, to become a leading country, we must break away from factional logic. The endless repetition of past history that can cause new factional conflicts is not the answer," and added, "Korean politics is fighting by only looking at the past and the present."

Meanwhile, Chairman Kim criticized Harvard University professor Mark Ramseyer, who wrote a thesis defining comfort women as prostitutes, saying, "You cannot claim academic freedom while praising the Nazis," and pointed out, "Explaining comfort women as prostitutes goes beyond academic freedom."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.