ED Anachronistic view

Opposition lawmakers hit for defiling May 18 movement

Three lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) have come under criticism for denigrating the pro-democracy movement in the southwestern city of Gwangju in May 1980. They appear to have crossed the line in their apparent bid to rally supporters behind the conservative party.

The episode took place Friday when two of the LKP legislators organized a public hearing on the May 18 Gwangju Uprising in a National Assembly building on Yeouido, Seoul. The organizers ere Reps. Kim Jin-tae and Lee Jong-myeong. Another LKP lawmaker, Kim Soon-rye, attended the event.

In every respect, the hearing was designed to defile the bloody and violent pro-democracy movement. The organizers invited Jee Man-won, a controversial far-right political commentator, to talk about the movement. During the hearing, Jee repeated his reactionary view that North Korean troops were sent to Gwangju to incite the uprising.

Jee claimed that around 600 North Korean regular and special troops were deployed to Gwangju in May 1980 to lead the uprising. He even said that it was guerilla warfare to overthrow the South Korean government.

It is ludicrous to make such a claim. Scholars, officials and civic activists have already conducted numerous investigations and concluded that the Gwangju incident was a pro-democracy movement against the Chun Doo-hwan-led military junta. Chun seized power through a military coup after the Oct. 26, 1979, assassination of then President Park Chung-hee.

First, it was wrong for the organizers to invite such a commentator as Jee to the hearing and let him harp on his anachronistic view. The LKP legislators' real intention was certainly to raise their conservative voices against the May 18 movement well ahead of general elections scheduled for next year.

But they should realize that they went too far in pursuing their own political gain. How could they even denounce the pro-democracy movement, which claimed more than 200 lives, as a “riot”? They did not even hesitate to describe the pro-democracy activists as a group of “monsters.”

The LKP made it clear that the lawmakers' views were not the party's official stance on the May 18 movement. Instead of finding an excuse, the opposition party should take stern action against the three for defaming the movement and its participants.