Park Min-sik: "If the opposition forcibly passes the Democratic Meritorious Person Act, Park Won-soon could become a meritorious person"

"Why Are Criminal Charges Not Listed at Park Won-soon's Grave?"

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik recently claimed that if the 'Act on the Treatment of Democratic Meritorious Persons (Democratic Meritorious Persons Act),' which passed the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee subcommittee solely by the opposition party, is enacted, "former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon might be reinstated as a democratic meritorious person."

On the 10th, Minister Park criticized on Facebook, "The Democratic Meritorious Persons Act, which the Democratic Party is currently trying to force through, is a typical example of a certain faction's 'historical hijacking' method."

Earlier, on the 4th, the Democratic Party passed the Democratic Meritorious Persons Act at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee Bill Review Subcommittee. The bill includes provisions to honor those who suffered death, injury, or conviction during democratization movements other than the April 19 Revolution and the May 18 Democratization Movement, which are already covered by existing laws.

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Minister Park stated, "According to this law, former Mayor Park might someday be praised solely for his contributions to democratization and be reinstated as a democratic meritorious person," adding, "If this is left unchecked, true meritorious persons like General Baek Seon-yeop, who made significant contributions, will be relentlessly trampled and persecuted every time a left-wing government comes to power, while fake meritorious persons will be endlessly replicated and rise to prominence."

He continued, "Even though the Human Rights Commission and the courts have already acknowledged the sexual harassment allegations, former Mayor Park's funeral was held as a Seoul Metropolitan City funeral, and he is now interred in the Democratic Martyrs' Cemetery, causing his criminal allegations to gradually fade away," questioning, "Why are his shameful criminal allegations not recorded at his gravesite in the former Seoul mayor's cemetery?"

Currently, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs 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 included in March 2019 by the then Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs based on the list from the Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Anti-National Acts, and was recorded on the Ministry and National Cemetery websites for the interred individuals.

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