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Wed, March 22, 2023 | 05:52
-------------------------
President blasts pro-N. Korea groups
李대통령 "北보다 종북세력이 더 큰 문제"
Posted : 2012-05-28 17:44
Updated : 2012-05-28 17:44
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President Lee Myung-bak lashed out at pro-North Korean groups in the South that blindly support the Pyongyang regime, Monday, saying that “North Korean followers are “worse than North Korea.”

President Lee Myung-bak
By Lee Tae-hoon

President Lee Myung-bak lashed out at pro-North Korean groups in the South that blindly support the Pyongyang regime, Monday, saying that “North Korean followers are “worse than North Korea.”

Lee’s remarks come at a time when the public is showing tiredness about the way so-called pro-Pyongyang leftists are behaving, especially in connection with an internal dispute in the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP).

It remains to be seen how Lee’s remarks will be reflected in policies ranging from prosecutors, who served as key tools in conducting ideological purges, to his stance on North Korea, already seen as being quite hard by the standards of the two previous liberal regimes.

“The North has repeatedly made wild assertions, but what matters more are some pro-North Korea groups within our society,” he said in a biweekly radio address.

Lee noted that the Pyongyang still insists that Seoul fabricated evidence implicating it in a bomb attack in Yangon that killed 17 South Korean officials in October 1983; and the torpedoing of the warship Cheonan that took the lives of 46 sailors onboard in March 2010.

He urged North Korean sympathizers to wake up to reality instead of unconditionally accepting absurd claims by the communist regime that continues to deny responsibility for vicious attacks against South Koreans.

Observers say that Lee, who has refrained from making ideological remarks, took on the issue of communist sympathizers in the South on the back of a growing public uproar against far-left pro-North Korean figures of the UPP.

“What wrong did they do and to whom? They were the victims of the division of the country and a ruthless terrorist attack,” Lee said as he described his visit to a Yangon mausoleum where a bomb planted by North Korean agents killed Deputy Prime Minister Seo Seok-jun and other Cabinet members.

“I could not hold back my anger thinking about who took their lives. I felt all choked up.”

On Saturday, lawyer Jun Won-tchack argued in a live television broadcast that one should be able to say the late North Korean leader Kim Jon-il and his heir Jong-un are “sons of a bitch” in order to prove that they are not delusional followers of the Stalinist North.

Despite some controversy over his use of vulgar words, Jun’s hawkish remarks surprisingly drew a lot of positive reactions from netizens, reflecting the public’s strong disapproval of “blind followers” of the North.

“Who should be described as sons of bitches, if not the ones responsible for a war that killed 2.5 million brethren and starved 3.5 million North Koreans,” a netizen identified as Lee Sang-woong said.

Criticism of pro-North Korean groups has risen sharply over the past few months since UPP lawmakers-elect embroiled in a vote-rigging scandal repeatedly refused to criticize the wrongdoings of the North during their public appearances.

Some political pundits say Lee’s usually strong remarks against them are intended to give a boost to his conservative ruling Saenuri Party and its presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye.

With the support of the Saenuri Party and Park, the Lee administration has taken a hardline stance toward the North since it took office in 2008 while downplaying the achievements of the previous two liberal administrations’ engagement policy.

They say escalating criticism of North Korea sympathizers and pro-North Korean politicians will be a boon for the Saenuri Party ahead of the December presidential election.

李대통령 "北보다 종북세력이 더 큰 문제"
91차 라디오연설..취임 후 `종북세력' 첫 비판 "北 주장 반복하는 맹목적 종북주의자 변해야" 이명박 대통령은 28일 "북한의 주장도 문제이지만 이들의 주장을 그대로 반복하는 우리 내부의 종북 세력은 더 큰 문제"라고 말했다. 이 대통령은 이날 오전 KBS1 라디오와 교통방송ㆍ동영상사이트 유튜브를 통해 방송된 제91차 라디오연설에서 북한이 아웅산 테러와 천안함 폭침을 우리 정부의 자작극이라고 주장하고 우리 국민 일부가 이에 동조하는 현상을 지적하며 이같이 밝혔다. 이어 "국제사회가 북한에 대해서 변화를 요구하듯 선진국 대열에 선 대한민국에서 국내 종북주의자들도 변해야 되겠다"고 강조했다. 이 대통령이 이처럼 `종북세력'이란 단어를 직접 쓰면서 북한 추종 세력을 직접적으로 비판한 것은 취임 이후 처음이다. 이 대통령은 2주 전 미얀마를 방문해 1983년 아웅산 국립묘지 테러 사건 희생자들을 추모한 사실을 언급하면서 "이분들이 누구 손에 목숨을 잃었는가를 생각하면 정말 울분을 참을 수가 없었다. 가슴이 메어왔다"고 회상했다. 그러면서 "아웅산 테러 사건은 20세기 역사에 있을 수 없는 일이고 결코 다시 되풀이되어서는 안 될 일"이라고 평가했다. 또 "미얀마 정부는 물론 유엔도 이 사건이 북한의 소행임을 공식발표했지만 북한은 오히려 우리의 자작극이라고 주장했다"면서 "2010년 천안함 폭침 때도 명확한 과학적 증거가 나왔음에도 불구하고 북한은 똑같이 자작극이라고 주장했다"고 덧붙였다. 이 대통령은 미얀마가 사회주의 장기 독재로 북한과 비슷한 수준의 최빈국에 머물러 있었으나 지난해 민간 정부를 출범하고 국제 사회에 문호를 개방했다고 설명하면서 "미얀마처럼 이제 북한도 새로운 생각을 하고 새로운 친구를 사귀어서 새로운 시대를 열기를 소망한다"고 당부했다. 아울러 "우리가 안타깝게 여기는 것은 북한"이라며 "어려움을 겪고 있는 2천만 북한 주민을 어떻게든 도와주고 싶은 것이 우리 국민 모두의 진정한 마음"이라고 말했다. 이밖에 이 대통령은 미얀마와 경제 협력을 약속한 데 대해 "우리로서는 자원도 확보하고 실질적으로 투자할 수 있는, 베트남 규모의 또 하나의 큰 시장이 열리게 된 것으로 의미가 크다"고 평가하고 "올해 모든 것을 서로 협의하고 준비하면 내년부터는 우리 기업들이 본격 진출할 수 있을 것"이라고 덧붙였다. (연합뉴스)
Emailleeth@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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