Lee appeared at Yeongdeungpo Police Station over complaint against Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok for calling her 'female Hitler'
The Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday criticized People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-suk for appearing before police over an insult complaint she filed against Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, who had called her a "female Hitler," saying Lee should be writing a letter of resignation, not a complaint.
Park Seong-jun, the Democratic Party's chief spokesperson, said in a briefing that day that Lee should "step down from her Assembly seat, return to private life and praise Chun Doo-hwan to her heart's content."
Park said Lee had invited Heo Hwa-pyeong, Chun Doo-hwan's former chief of staff, as a guest to a National Assembly forum, spread videos describing the May 18 Gwangju Uprising as a riot and act of civil unrest, and even announced plans to push for legislation to make public a list of people recognized for their role in the uprising.
"She treats Chun's chief of staff with the utmost reverence and follows Chun's view of history — how could 'female Chun Doo-hwan' be an insult? Isn't it a compliment?" Park said. "She is so deferential in front of Heo Hwa-pyeong, yet she runs straight to the police station at the mention of Chun Doo-hwan's name. There is no greater irony."
Park said it was "fortunate" that Lee now properly referred to Chun as a "criminal of insurrection" and understood that Hitler meant a perpetrator of mass murder. "We hope she studies further — why Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death for the crime of insurrection, and how many innocent citizens he massacred in Gwangju," he said. "Had she devoted even half the energy she spent writing that complaint to studying history, she could have avoided being called the 'female Chun Doo-hwan.'"
Park said Lee had hosted a forum that described the May 18 uprising as civil unrest and appeared at rallies promoting claims of election fraud. "That is no more than an attempt to sustain her political career by feeding off the support of far-right forces," he said. "That is why the National Assembly passed a resolution calling for her expulsion, with some PPP lawmakers joining in."
Meanwhile, the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station summoned Lee for her first round of questioning as the complainant in the case against Kim. As she entered the interview room, Lee told reporters that "Hitler was a perpetrator of ethnic cleansing who massacred about 6 million Jews," and asked whether Kim was "threatening to drive me out of South Korea by comparing me to Hitler."
mkkang@heraldcorp.com
