Minsik Park: "Control Demo? Seems Cornered by Kang Gijeong... Forced Nitpicking"

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik SBS Radio Interview

Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung criticized the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs for allegedly mobilizing government-affiliated organizations in opposition to the 'Jeong Yul-seong Historical Park' project, with Minister Park Min-sik remarking, "It seems Mayor Kang is currently quite cornered."

Minister Park appeared on SBS Radio's 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' on the 1st and said, "Since there is no substantial answer to the core issue, they keep forcibly nitpicking on peripheral matters."

Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik expressed his intention to establish a memorial facility for Honam Student Soldiers on the morning of the 28th at Suncheon Station in Jeollanam-do. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on the 30th, about 1,900 members from 12 nationwide veterans' organizations held a rally in front of Gwangju City Hall, protesting the withdrawal of the Jeong Yul-seong memorial project. Some media outlets reported signs of a government-organized demonstration. In response, Mayor Kang stated on the 31st, "The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs is warned to immediately stop attempts to distort Gwangju through government-organized demonstrations."

Minister Park pointed out, "What era do you think this is, where the government organizes demonstrations and people only protest when told to? This is really reckless fake news production."

He added, "(We have) started (taking action)," and said, "Such remarks completely insult the members of our veterans' organizations as well as the members and leaders of the three 5.18 organizations in Gwangju."

Regarding plans to scrap the Jeong Yul-seong Historical Park project, he said, "We are currently reviewing it legally," adding, "There could be administrative orders, and if public funds were involved, as you know, the Board of Audit and Inspection could conduct an audit, among other measures."

In response to Mayor Kang's criticism about raising issues about the Jeong Yul-seong memorial project 'belatedly,' Minister Park said, "Until then, we did not fully understand Jeong Yul-seong's identity," and added, "Whether at the intermediate or final stage, once the truth is known and it is recognized as wrong, naturally it should be stopped."

Minister Park stated, "They say it has been done in the past, but from what I found, those were all one-time concerts or similar events," and continued, "However, what Gwangju City is trying to do now is not a one-time music festival but to create a permanent historical memorial park and honor him as a great figure of the Republic of Korea."

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