Speaker attends 77th memorial ceremony for independence activist Baekbeom Kim Gu

"National Assembly will lead efforts to resolve Japan's wartime historical issues"

National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik [National Assembly Speaker's Office]
National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik [National Assembly Speaker's Office]

National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik attended the 77th memorial ceremony for independence activist Baekbeom Kim Gu on Friday at the Baekbeom Kim Gu Memorial Hall convention hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

At the ceremony, Jo said the gathering was held "to honor the noble spirit of Kim Gu, who fought against Japanese colonial rule to achieve independence and strove to build a 'nation of sovereign people' — a country where ordinary citizens are the masters, just as his pen name Baekbeom suggests." He added that Kim's cry — "If God asks, 'What is your wish?' my answer, first, second and third, would be 'the complete independence of Korea'" — still seemed to ring clearly in his ears.

Jo said the path of "independent sovereignty" that Kim Gu had yearned for lives on through South Korea's defense capabilities, ranked among the world's top five, and an economy on par with the G7. The path of "inter-Korean peace," he said, continues through the inter-Korean summit talks held under the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in administrations, as well as the Lee Jae Myung government's policy of "peaceful coexistence and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula." The path of "cultural power," he said, is being realized through K-culture, which has won the hearts of people around the world.

Jo said South Korea now faces the challenges of a complex global crisis and a great transformation, while grappling at home with the heavy tasks of narrowing polarization, addressing the low birth rate and achieving national unity. "This is a time when we need the indomitable will and foresight that Kim Gu showed us," he said. "We will fulfill our calling — protecting people's livelihoods, safeguarding the national interest and opening the door to the future — as a National Assembly that truly belongs to the people."

Jo also pledged that the National Assembly would take the lead in resolving issues stemming from Japan's wartime past. He said the Assembly would review whether the Act on the Reversion of Pro-Japanese Collaborators' Property, promulgated under the Lee Jae Myung government, is being properly enforced, and vowed to "firmly punish, through additional legislation if necessary, any acts that insult the victims of the Japanese military's comfort women system."


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