"Baek Sun-yeop, Voluntarily Supported Suppression of Independence Fighters"
"Moon Cannot Ignore Response"
Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik criticized former President Moon Jae-in's father as pro-Japanese, saying, "If General Baek Seon-yeop is pro-Japanese, then former President Moon Jae-in's father is also pro-Japanese," prompting former President Moon to file a complaint. In response, Choi Jae-sung, a pro-Moon (親文) former senior secretary for political affairs at the Blue House, criticized Park, saying, "Minister Park is crazy."
On the 7th, Choi said on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' program, "Right now, including the president, the so-called views on history, pro-Japanese issues, and ideological matters are really going crazy."
The day before, Minister Park sparked controversy at the National Assembly by addressing Democratic Party lawmakers who questioned General Baek's pro-Japanese actions, saying, "(Former President Moon's father) the agricultural officer of Heungnam City is not a pro-Japanese, but is Baek Seon-yeop, a second lieutenant at the Manchurian Military Academy, a pro-Japanese?" Former President Moon filed a defamation lawsuit against him.
Choi said, "(The agricultural officer) did that after liberation. And General Baek was actually confirmed as a pro-Japanese actor during the Lee Myung-bak administration," adding, "It wasn't just made up to label General Baek as pro-Japanese; there was an official designation."
He explained, "The Gando Special Unit was created with the intention of 'Koreans suppressing Koreans' anti-Japanese resistance,' and there were three groups: the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The 1st and 2nd were volunteers," adding, "So those (volunteers of the Gando Special Unit) voluntarily supported suppressing the independence army." This implies that General Baek's pro-Japanese acts were voluntary.
Choi continued, "He was 23 years old at the time (of volunteering). And at 32, after liberation, he became the Chief of Staff of the Army. When Yun Bong-gil carried out his assassination at Hongkou Park, he was also 24 years old. So, if Baek Seon-yeop's pro-Japanese acts at 23 and Yun Bong-gil's actions at 20s are questioned as if they didn't know what they were doing, isn't that erasing history?"
Regarding the possibility of former President Moon entering active politics due to this issue, he said, "To put it bluntly, former President Moon keeps speaking and appearing, creating this situation," but added, "he is not a politician in active politics."
He said, "As a former president, when he speaks or writes, it becomes a topic of interest, and as a former president, he cannot avoid mentioning issues like General Hong Beom-do," adding, "Also, it forces former President Moon to clarify things. When a current minister of this government labels even former President Moon's father, who was not pro-Japanese, as pro-Japanese, how can former President Moon not respond?"
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