By Lee Kyung-min
The prosecution is considering questioning former President Chun Doo-hwan over an allegation he defamed an anti-military regime activist priest in his memoir, in a widening investigation into the former military strongman whose continued denials over a violent crackdown on a pro-democracy movement outrages the public. The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office said Sunday it would soon arrange a date for questioning Chun following a review of materials involving the military under the command of Chun opening fire from helicopters on civilians to suppress their protest of his military junta in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising of 1980. This came nearly 10 months after the bereaved families of the widely respected late priest surnamed Cho filed the complaint last April, over what they claimed were a number of defamatory and false remarks about Cho in a memoir written by Chun.
In his book _ a set of three over 2,000 pages _ Chun said Cho was "a devil wearing a mask" and that he was "not a priest but a liar," in what his families claim was an attempt to undercut Cho's earlier efforts to publicly condemn the military-ordered helicopter shooting. Many civilians, Cho and other religious figures had repeatedly spoken out against the Chun regime for denying what they all witnessed during the massacre. Cho was later imprisoned for leading a civic group demanding the government acknowledge the violent crackdown. He died in September 2016.
The May 18 Memorial Foundation, a Gwangju-based fact-finding civic group that investigates the event, said Chun should not attempt to avoid questioning. The foundation is supporting Cho's family. "It is incumbent upon him that he should clarify his stance with the prosecution," foundation executive director Kim Yang-rae said. "Chun brought this upon himself by writing appallingly false statements in his memoir, which was an affront to the surviving victims and the bereaved families of the tragic incident. He should submit to questioning if he still maintains such a disputable stance."
In his memoir, Chun flatly denied his involvement in the military-ordered helicopter shooting, drawing fierce protest from not only from the victims but also the public at large. He said, "I have fallen a sacrificial victim to a group mentality seeking consolation and reconciliation." He used terms that undermined the historical significance of the uprising and alleged the democratic movement was engineered by North Korean soldiers. "Chun is fostering some people with such an extremist, ultra-right-wing agenda to continue to spread rumors that defame, dishonor and insult the victims of the movement and the bereaved families," Kim said.
The foundation filed a suit seeking to ban the publication of the book, a move granted by the Gwangju District Court last August. The court said the publisher should not sell the book without redacting 33 parts it deemed were defamatory to victims, but the publisher began selling the redacted version. The Seoul Central District Court is set to review a criminal trial involving Jee Man-won, an ultra-right-wing pundit who was indicted on charges of defamation for claiming victims of the government were North Korean spies dispatched by the isolationist regime. The first hearing will be held April 3.
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