Democratic Party Lawmaker, KBS Radio Interview
"Ideological Battle with Outdated Cold War Ideology"
Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-seok claimed on the 30th that the plan to remove the bust of General Hong Beom-do from the Korea Military Academy is "essentially a fight in which a pro-Japanese president attacks the independence activist Hong Beom-do."
In an interview with KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' on the same day, Rep. An said, "Will a pro-Japanese president win, or will an independence activist win?" adding, "Even though the outcome is obviously predictable, the current administration is engaging in this controversy, which to me seems like they really have nothing better to do."
He continued, "They are pulling out outdated Cold War ideology and engaging in ideological battles through McCarthyism. While 35% of supporters might rally, not all will. Even among the 35% who support the administration, reasonable conservatives probably won't agree, and expectations for the moderate group will be completely dashed," he argued.
Rep. An said, "Former President Park Chung-hee, who received orders from Kim Il-sung and was active in the South Korean Workers' Party, is now buried in the National Cemetery, and also, Rep. Tae Young-ho of the People Power Party is from North Korea and was a communist, yet he is serving as a member of the National Assembly in South Korea," adding, "This kind of McCarthyist ideological battle, which is self-contradictory and gains no public consent, will not benefit the administration. It really seems like a government with nothing better to do."
Rep. An sarcastically remarked, "If you run President Yoon Suk-yeol's August 15th Liberation Day speech or March 1st Independence Movement Day message through a Japanese translator, doesn't it sound like the position of the Japanese prime minister or the Japanese government spokesperson?" He added, "Regarding the Fukushima contaminated water discharge issue, if you look at the wording from the president, government, or ruling party, if you just run it through a Japanese translator, wouldn't people perceive it as if they are speaking like Japan?"
He also said, "From a pro-Japanese standpoint, isn't this denying the independence movement itself?" adding, "They never ruled Korea or the Korean Peninsula, yet they label figures like An Jung-geun as terrorists."
He went on, "Because they deny the independence movement itself, the essence is that regardless of whether someone is a communist or not, from a pro-Japanese perspective, they want to deny the independence movement itself," he said.
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