Song Gap-seok "People Power Party must firmly discipline those who made defamatory remarks about 5·18 and 4·3"

Song Gap-seok, a Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated, “The People Power Party must take definite disciplinary action against those who made defamatory remarks about the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the Jeju 4.3 Incident.”

The Ethics Committee of the People Power Party initiated disciplinary procedures on the 1st against Supreme Council Members Kim Jae-won and Tae Young-ho, who sparked public outrage with their defamatory remarks about May 18 and 4.3.

Song Gap-seok, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Supreme Council Member Song said, “We, the people, will never forget the ‘May 18 Defamatory Trio’ of Kim Soon-rye, Kim Jin-tae, and Lee Jong-myung from the Liberty Korea Party, the predecessor of the People Power Party, in 2019.”

Former lawmaker Kim Soon-rye had said at the time, “A monster group called May 18 merit recipients has been created while pro-North leftists run rampant, wasting taxpayers’ money.” Former lawmaker Kim Jin-tae (currently Governor of Gangwon Province) said, “The right-wing must not back down on the May 18 issue,” and former lawmaker Lee Jong-myung said, “May 18 was a riot involving North Korean troops.”

Song claimed, “The Liberty Korea Party’s disciplinary actions against them were limited to a three-month suspension of party membership and a warning after a disciplinary reprieve. The expulsion of former lawmaker Lee Jong-myung was decided one year later, allowing him to defect to the satellite party, the Future Korea Party. It was as if no disciplinary action was taken at all, and he was given a defection consent form to escape.”

He continued, “Four years later, the shocking defamatory remarks of Supreme Council Members Kim Jae-won and Tae Young-ho have surfaced again,” emphasizing, “This is why it is difficult to expect sincerity from President Yoon Suk-yeol and the People Power Party leadership’s pledges to ‘include the May 18 spirit in the preamble of the Constitution’ and ‘make efforts to fully restore the honor of the Jeju 4.3 victims and their families.’”

He added, “The People Power Party must clearly realize that the blatant abusive language of these two Supreme Council Members is the result of neglecting the repeated historical distortions and defamatory remarks within the party, and firmly cut it off with definite disciplinary action by the Ethics Committee.”

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