GNP Chairwoman Park: “History of Leftist Collaboration Should Also Be Revisited”

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the chairwoman of the Grand National Party, has proposed that the reach of a fact-finding committee on history at the National Assembly should include probes into leftist sympathizers. The standoff between the ruling and opposition party will likely turn into an all-out political feud as the Uri Party is likely to step up its efforts to dig up new facts in modern history, following the resignation of Rep. Shin Ki-nam as its chairman over the cover-up of his father’s history as a pro-Japanese collaborator.

“We should clarify whether our choice between liberal democracy and communism was correct after liberation from Japanese rule, who stopped aggression during the Korean War, and who was most victimized during the carnage of the war,” Rep. Park said at a steering committee meeting of the GNP. “We should also clarify whose corruption and incompetence fomented the April 19, 1960 revolution.”

“Let us impartially clarify what the merits and demerits of the industrialization since the May 16, 1961 military coup are, who defended national security, and who damaged what during the liberal democracy-versus-communism Cold War era,” she said. Rep. Park said an independent investigative team consisting of scholars with verifiable impartiality and expertise should be formed at the National Assembly for the fact-finding mission.

In related development, Rep. Shin, who has stepped down as Uri Party chairman, said at a news conference, “I am resigning [from the chairmanship] because I can’t hurt the cause of the campaign to rid the vestiges of Japanese colonial rule and recuperate the will of the nation.” Lee Bu-young, who succeeded the chairmanship from Rep. Shin, said, “I will fully support the party’s reform efforts including revisions of the fact-finding law on colonial collaboration and repealing or reforming the National Security law.” He added, “Since stability in public livelihood and an enlivened economy are essential to the implementation of reforms, I will put every effort into them.”

In related news, Uri Rep. Kim Young-choon met with GNP Rep. Nam Kyeong-pil to discuss ways to form the ad hoc committee on modern history and investigative teams. They failed to reach an agreement on who should be recruited to the committee.

Young-Chan Yoon Myoung-Gun Lee yyc11@donga.com gun43@donga.com