Progressive Party: "Lee, glorifying Jeon Du-hwan and Park Chung-hee is no different from the colonial view that claims economic growth during the Japanese occupation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 13th, the Progressive Party strongly criticized Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, who evaluated the merits and demerits of former presidents Jeon Du-hwan and Park Jeong-hee, calling it "an irresponsible complicity with an unjust history marked by massacres and dictatorship."

On the same day, the Progressive Party's Central Election Countermeasures Committee, led by Kim Jae-yeon, issued a statement saying, "If the candidate has even a minimum sense of shame before the people who resisted the dictatorship, he should apologize to the public immediately."

The Progressive Party's election committee argued, "The candidate repeatedly claims that there is no problem with 'glorifying Jeon Du-hwan,'" adding, "Jeon Du-hwan was a murderer who trampled innocent citizens of Gwangju with guns and knives following a military coup, and a dictator who unilaterally imposed the pains of economic growth on workers." They further pointed out, "Any mention of economic achievements during Jeon Du-hwan's era only represents the interests of capital and the ruling class who exploited workers through low wages and brutal labor intensity."

They also criticized, "Glorifying Park Jeong-hee as someone who 'made the country an economic powerhouse through industrialization' is the same," adding, "In that case, how is it different from the colonialist perspective that claims 'economic growth occurred during the Japanese occupation'?"

The Progressive Party's election committee warned, "If the candidate intended to gain an advantage in the presidential election through a rightward shift, he should keep in mind that his complacent thinking leads to a serious regression of democracy."

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