SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Days after police raided Starbucks Korea over a marketing campaign accused of insulting the memory of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook is set to co-host a forum with a right-wing group that disputes describing the 1980 bloodshed as a massacre planned by state authorities.
Lee will hold the forum, titled “Reexamining the May 18 Democratization Movement,” with the New History National Movement at the National Assembly Library on Thursday.
The event will examine the origins and course of the uprising, the historical meaning of the so-called “Gwangju spirit” and its influence on South Korean politics since democratization in 1987.
The group, whose first stated principle is “Liberate Gwangju,” refers to the May 18 Democratization Movement as the “Gwangju Incident.” It argues that the casualties during the uprising resulted from a combination of circumstances and that it is inappropriate to characterize them as a massacre deliberately planned by state violence.
Speakers include New History National Movement co-leader Lee Young-hoon, PenNMic senior journalist Kim Yong-sam and former PPP Gwangju official Joo Dong-sik. Joo is scheduled to speak under the title “May 18 as the main culprit behind the contamination and degeneration of the 1987 system.”
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea whose constituencies are in Gwangju criticized Rep. Lee Jin-sook.
“Lee appears to be trying to strengthen her political standing by relying on far-right forces,” said Rep. Cho In-chul, criticizing Lee.
“Her intentions are highly impure.”
“During the 2024 confirmation hearing for the chair of the Korea Communications Commission, I asked Lee, who was then the nominee for the position, whether she thought it was correct to define it as the ‘May 18 Democratic Uprising,’ but she could not answer,” Cho said.
The forum is “a clear distortion of history disguised as an academic event and a clear challenge to the democratic history of the Republic of Korea,” said Rep. Jung Joon-ho.
The forum amounts to “secondary victimization,” Jung said.
“It is infuriating that they are trying to turn the National Assembly, the hall of the people’s will, into a ‘free-for-all of historical distortion.’”
Voices of criticism also emerged from within the People Power Party.
“It is truly concerning that Lee is disparaging the May 18 Democratic Uprising and distorting history,” said former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min, who served four terms as a People Power Party lawmaker.
“A political group that claims the Holocaust was not a massacre would have no place in Germany, the United States, Canada or any other country,” Yoo said.
“The People Power Party, the main opposition party, should not allow one of its lawmakers to refer to the ‘Gwangju incident.’”
“Politicians would be better off refraining from actions that unnecessarily cause conflict among the public,” said Rep. Woo Jae-jun, a member of the party’s Supreme Council.
As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, 17 related news reports could be found online. According to the Korea Press Foundation, South Korea had more than 8,000 newspaper outlets as of Dec. 31, 2024.
AJP contacted Rep. Lee Jin-sook and her aide for comment but did not receive a response.
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