Lee pledges to remedy damage caused by state violence
President Lee Jae Myung makes a deep bow during a lunch meeting with victims of unresolved state violence at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung vowed Friday to redress damage caused by state violence, ranging from government crackdowns on democratization activists to forced adoptions to overseas.
The president made the pledge during his lunch meeting with about 70 victims of unresolved state violence, held on the occasion of the launch of the third Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a state body tasked with investigating human rights abuses or systemic injustices inflicted by the state.
The president cited the tragic deaths of many civilians during the 1950-53 Korean War and government crackdowns on citizens and students calling for democracy under previous authoritarian regimes as examples of state violence, calling them a dark chapter in Korea's breakneck growth and development.
"The old homework of redressing past (wrongdoings) cannot be passed on to future generations. The state will take responsibility and heal (the past)," Lee said during the meeting.
The president said the government will add an additional division to the commission to get to the bottom of cases involving former state orphanages and vagrant shelters accused of human rights abuses, as well as forced adoptions to overseas.
"As a president, I feel deeply responsible for the state's failure to respond sufficiently to victims' desperate calls," Lee said, offering an apology.
The president also reaffirmed that no statute of limitations will apply to cases involving state violence, vowing efforts to ensure that no further cases of state violence occur in the future and no more innocent victims are created.