Ex-President Parks Son Fights for Fathers Fame
Park Ji-man, 51, the only son of the late former President Park Chung-hee, filed an injunction Monday with a Seoul district court to remove his father's name from being listed as a pro-Japanese figure during the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945), court officials said.
His petition comes as the Institute for Research on Collaborationist Activists plans to release Sunday a list of about 4,370 Koreans who supported Japanese colonial rule.
In the 3,000-page report, the names of those who collaborated with the Japanese regime and its expansionary war will be revealed along with their "acts of betrayal to the nation," according to the institute.
Park filed the injunction, claiming that there was no evidence to prove that the Japanese army in Manchuria, in which the former President served as an officer in the 1940s, persecuted or harassed independence fighters.
"It's an act of defaming the bereaved family to define former President Park as a pro-Japanese figure without evidence and without taking into consideration what he accomplished for the Republic of Korea," Park Ji-man said in the petition.
Included in the list are former Prime Minister Jang Myun, dancer Choi Seung-hee, and musical composers Hong Nan-pa and Ahn Eak-tai.
The report was created by 150 professional historians and was written by 150 people, with 80 researchers studying more than 3,000 documents.