Two liberals take collective jab at Park
Rep. Moon Jae-in, center, the main opposition Democratic United Party’s (DUP) presidential candidate, and independent contender Ahn Cheol-soo, right, shout slogans after watching the movie, “Namyeong-dong 1985,” together at the Megabox Cineplex in the COEX Mall in Seoul, Monday evening. At left is Rep. In Jae-keun of the DUP, the wife of the late Kim Geun-tae, whose story the film is about. / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
The eyes of the two liberal presidential candidates, Moon Jae-in from the Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent contender Ahn Cheol-soo, welled-up with tears as they watched the movie, “Namyeong-dong 1985,” together at a theater in southern Seoul, Monday evening.
Directed by Chung Ji-young, the film is about late democratization activist and lawmaker Kim Geun-tae, who was tortured for 22 days in 1985 for protesting against Chun Doo-hwan’s military government.
Moon and Ahn are currently in talks to decide who between them will be the unified liberal candidate to stand against Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate and daughter of late military strongman President Park Chung-hee. Watching the screening of the disturbing movie together was a two-fisted jab at Park, who was touring Gwangju, the same city where Chun dispatched paratroopers in 1980 which resulted in the bloody suppression of civilian protests.
``As expected, the movie was painfully hard to watch,” said Moon, himself a former democracy activist. “I was also arrested and beaten by police (during that era) about four times, and it happened just 27 years ago.”
Moon said Korea’s democracy still has a long way to go, noting that, “The movie reminded me of how important it is for us to protect democracy and human rights.”
Ahn agreed, adding that ``we have to cooperate so as not to repeat the tragedy.”
``Watching the movie was extremely tough,” said the popular computer software guru and former Seoul National University professor.
``It felt like experiencing a dark part of our history. I think we all owe those people (our freedom).”
After the movie, the two presidential hopefuls spent some time together chatting in a friendly atmosphere.
Ahn greeted Moon first by saying “I just came back from Busan after a special lecture at Busan National University,” and Moon gave him a tongue-in-cheek rejoinder saying “How did it go? You are such a star around the colleges.”
Kim, who was accused of leaking information to North Korea, survived the brutal torment and later took the case to court where torturer Lee Geun-an was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in 2000 after being on the run for years. Kim died of a cerebral venous thrombosis last year at the age of 64, though many speculated that post-traumatic stress from the torture accelerated his death.
Kim’s wife In Jae-keun, a DUP lawmaker, visited the venue asking the audience to remember him and the country’s dark history, saying, “Teaching the right history to the next generation is our responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Park’s visit to Gwangju in South Jeolla Province, the center of democratic campaigns in 1980 during the military regime, was seen as a bid to boost her poll numbers in the region where the two liberal contenders dominate.