Minsik Park: "General Baek Seon-yeop is not a pro-Japanese collaborator, I will stake my ministerial position"

"Although Serving in Special Unit, Did Not Suppress Independence Fighters"
Announces Plan to Recommend Veto of Democratic Merit Act

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik emphasized on the 6th, "I am confident enough to stake my position and say that General Baek Seon-yeop was not a pro-Japanese collaborator."

Minister Park appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that day and said, "The Korean War was our greatest national crisis, and General Baek was the greatest hero who overcame that crisis," adding, "It is a bit harsh to say, but attacking him with an utterly baseless pro-Japanese collaborator frame is not right."

Regarding claims that General Baek served in the notorious Gando Special Force, known for suppressing independence fighters, he rebutted, "It is true that General Baek served in the Gando Special Force from 1942 to 1943 when he was 22 years old," but added, "However, there were no independence fighters in Manchuria at that time, and those present there were anti-Japanese Chinese or bandits." In other words, the targets that General Baek suppressed while belonging to the Gando Special Force were not independence fighters.

On the afternoon of the 5th, at the Dabudong War Memorial in Chilgok, Gyeongbuk, guests including Park Min-sik, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Baek Nam-hee, eldest daughter of the late General Baek Seon-yeop, Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, Lee Jong-seop, Minister of National Defense, and Yoon Jae-ok, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, took a commemorative photo after the unveiling ceremony of the statue of the late General Baek Seon-yeop.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Minister Park also stated that if the 'Democratic Merit Recipients Act' (Democratic Merit Act), which passed the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee subcommittee on the 4th solely by the opposition party, passes the plenary session of the National Assembly, he would recommend President Yoon Seok-yeol to exercise his veto power.

Minister Park said, "The Democratic Merit Act is a bill whose contents even the minister in charge, the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, cannot know," and added, "In its current state, even if I resign as minister, I would recommend a veto."

The Democratic Merit Act includes provisions to honor those who suffered death, injury, or convictions during democratization movements other than the April 19 and May 18 movements, which are already covered by related laws.

Meanwhile, the day before, Minister Park also revealed that he is considering removing the phrase 'pro-Japanese anti-national act perpetrator' from General Baek's burial record at the National Cemetery. The phrase 'pro-Japanese anti-national act perpetrator' was inscribed on the burial records on the Patriots and Veterans Affairs and National Cemetery websites in March 2019, based on the list established by the 'Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Anti-National Acts' (Anti-National Investigation Committee) at that time.

Born in 1920, General Baek made significant contributions during the Korean War, including defending the Nakdong River front, the last line of defense, against North Korean forces. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Manchukuo Army in 1943 and served in the Gando Special Force.

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