Lee visits former torture site turned democracy museum on police day
President Lee Jae Myung, left, tours an exhibition hall of the National Museum of Korean Democracy in central Seoul on Oct. 21, in this photo provided by the presidential office. The museum was formerly a police interrogation office notorious for the torture of pro-democracy activists. Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday visited the National Museum of Korean Democracy, a former site notorious for the torture of pro-democracy activists, as he urged the police to carry out reforms to earn public trust ahead of judicial reforms that would expand their powers.
After attending a ceremony marking National Police Day, Lee toured the museum in central Seoul, which opened in June after being renovated from the former Anti-Communist Interrogation Office. The facility had been used to interrogate pro-democracy activists during the 1970s and 1980s.
"The building is a symbolic space of state violence that reflects the dark history of the police under the military rule," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said during a briefing.
Kang said Lee's visit to the site on the anniversary demonstrates the president's hope that the police "will not repeat their disgraceful history" and will instead be reborn as a "democratic police" that earns public trust.
His visit to the site linked to the police's dark history comes as the government pushes ahead with prosecution reform aimed at separating indictment and investigative powers while gradually expanding regional police systems.
Among the exhibits Lee toured was a replica of the interrogation room where Seoul National University student Park Jong-chul was tortured to death in 1987 — an incident that sparked a nationwide democracy movement two years later.