Hello, I am Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at The Korea Times. I primarily cover financial authorities and write articles on a wide range of topics related to finance and capital markets. If you have any information to share, feel free to email me at jjh@koreatimes.co.kr, and I will review it carefully. I am committed to always doing my best to communicate with readers through high-quality articles.
Activist song stirs pre-May 18 ceremony controversy
By Jun Ji-hye
The government’s move to replace a symbolic protest song with another song at a state event to commemorate the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Movement is drawing criticism from the opposition party and civic groups.
Park Seong-choon, head of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, said during his visit to Gwangju Thursday that the ministry plans to hold a public contest to decide an official song to be sung at the commemorative event. “Nimel Wihan Haengjingok” (March for Lover) has been used so far at the ceremony.
“We cannot include the singing of March for Lover in the order of the ceremony as there are many dissenting opinions on the song. We will replace it with a new official song,” he said.
The song, which was written in 1982, has the lyrics: “Our comrades are disappearing, but we will not be swayed until the new world comes. The living, follow me.”
Participants in the event had sung the song after the presidents’ speech for about 30 years until the end of the late President Roh Moo-hyun’s government. But this stopped from 2010 when former President Lee Myung-bak was in office on the grounds that the lyrics were too inflammatory.
The ministry earmarked 48 million won ($44,000) to commission a replacement song.
However, opposition parties are protesting the move. Park Ki-choon, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said Tuesday, “I urge the government to drop their narrow-minded attitude. They should allow participants to sing the march.”
Gwangju city council officials also visited the ministry and asked that “March for Lover” be used as the official song for the event.
“We demand the government include the singing of the march in the ceremony and immediately stop its attempt to bring in other official song,” said Jo Ho-kwon, chairman of the council.
They added the ministry should use the 48 million won to enhance the spirit of the Gwangju uprising, when citizens of the city stood up against President Chun Du-hwan’s dictatorship.
Cho Kuk, a law professor at Seoul National University, posted on his Twitter account, “If you feel uncomfortable listening to lyrics of the song, you should listen to La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.”
Na Kan-chae, a professor of the Department of Sociology at Chonnam National University, claimed in his column: “The move to remove the song from the state event could be seen as the government attempts to distort the history of May 18 uprising that developed the nation’s democracy. In my opinion, the ministry should reconsider its plans.”