Kim Jong-in warns People Power Party risks losing public support over May 18 forum row

Kim Jong-in, former emergency committee chief of the People Power Party. [Photo by Lee Sang-sub/babtong@]

Kim Jong-in, former emergency committee chief of the People Power Party, warned Thursday that the party risks alienating voters over its failure to discipline Rep. Lee Jin-suk, who organized a National Assembly forum widely criticized for distorting and denigrating the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising.

"If the People Power Party listens to someone like Rep. Lee and moves in that direction, it will find it increasingly difficult to win public support," Kim said.

Kim made the remarks Thursday on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show." On the background behind Lee's decision to hold the forum, he said that over the past 46 years "all manner of things have been said about May 18 — laws have even been enacted to punish those who denigrate it," adding that he found it hard to understand why anyone would feel the need to "re-examine" the uprising at this point.

"Rep. Lee is the kind of person who, by her individual nature, creates issues to make herself stand out," Kim said. "I think it was under that intention that she attached the label of 'academic seminar' and held such a gathering in the National Assembly."

People Power Party Rep. Lee Jin-suk delivers a welcoming address at an open National Assembly forum on re-examining the May 18 pro-democracy movement, held at the National Assembly Library in Yeouido, Seoul, on Aug. 13. [Photo by Lee Sang-sub/babtong@]

Kim also criticized Lee's refusal to apologize — she had argued the forum was held to champion freedom of expression — saying the issue was "a separate matter from freedom of expression."

At the forum Lee hosted on Aug. 13, titled "Re-examining the May 18 Pro-democracy Movement," speakers denied and mocked the uprising and glorified former President Chun Doo-hwan. Lee Young-hoon, a former Seoul National University professor, described the events as "ten days of civil unrest in Gwangju," while Ju Dong-sik, co-chairman of the Liberal Writers' Council, said that to resolve "the May 18 issue," it was necessary to "isolate it externally and divide it internally."

Kim made headlines in August 2020 when, as emergency committee chief of the then-Future United Party — the predecessor to the People Power Party — he visited the May 18 National Cemetery in Gwangju and knelt in silence before the memorial tower for 15 seconds. He bowed his head and said the party "failed to raise the rod" against members who had damaged the spirit of May 18, offering "a sincere apology as the person responsible for the party." His remarks came after lawmakers Kim Sun-rye, who had called bereaved May 18 families a "monster group created by pro-North Korea leftists" at a National Assembly hearing in February 2019, and Kim Jin-tae, who organized that hearing, received only token disciplinary measures.

Kim also apologized for his own past. He acknowledged his participation in the National Defense Emergency Policy Committee — an advisory body Chun Doo-hwan's military junta created in June 1980 to consolidate power after the violent suppression of the Gwangju pro-democracy movement — saying it "was something unforgivable to the people of Gwangju who were heartbroken, and to the citizens who opposed military rule."

jshan@heraldcorp.com