Democratic Party Gwangju Branch "Withdraw the Nominations of Candidates Lee Jin-suk and Kang Min-su"

"Serious Issues in the Historical Understanding of the 5·18 Minju Movement"

The Gwangju Metropolitan City Party of the Democratic Party of Korea urged the withdrawal of the nominations of President Yoon Suk-yeol's candidates Lee Jin-sook for the Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairperson and Kang Min-soo for the Commissioner of the National Tax Service, citing serious problems with their historical understanding of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.

On the 8th, the Democratic Party's Gwangju City Party issued a statement saying, "Candidate Lee Jin-sook disparaged the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement on social media as the ‘Gwangju Incident’ and described it as ‘a tragic day when even innocent citizens died one after another due to the incitement and propaganda of rioters,’ and she even ‘liked’ posts that distorted May 18,” adding, “this proves that she shares the historical perspective of far-right forces, and there were many comments on this SNS post praising Jeon Du-hwan and disparaging Honam."

They continued, "Candidate Kang Min-soo, in his 1995 master's thesis titled ‘A Study on the Political Status of Former Prime Ministers of Korea,’ glorified the December 12 military coup as a ‘righteous act’ and disparaged the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement as the ‘Gwangju Incident,’” emphasizing, “he also praised Jeon Du-hwan, who mobilized soldiers to seize state power and massacred citizens, saying he ‘boldly exercised decisions for national stability’ and that his ‘leadership was so strong that it was unrivaled.’"

Furthermore, they stated, "These two individuals distorted and disparaged the May 18 Democratization Movement, which is recognized not only in the Republic of Korea but worldwide as a proud history where citizens fought against dictatorial power to achieve democracy, and this is a denial of democracy itself."