President Lee Jae-myung is listening to an explanation from Lee Jae-o, chairman of the Democracy Movement Memorial Project Association, at the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall (formerly Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office) in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 21st. Photo by Yonhap News Agency
President Lee Jae-myung visited the exhibition space of the former Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office on the occasion of the 80th Police Day on October 21.
Kang Yoo-jung, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, announced this during a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon. On this day, President Lee toured Room 509, where the late Park Jong-chul died after being tortured, and Room 515, where the late former lawmaker Kim Geun-tae, then chairman of the Democratic Youth Union, was detained and tortured.
Spokesperson Kang stated, "The Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office, which has been reborn as the Democracy Movement Memorial Hall, is a symbolic space of state violence that contains the dark history of the police during the era of military dictatorship." She explained, "President Lee's reason for visiting this place on Police Day reflects his determination that such a shameful history will never be repeated, and that it will serve as an opportunity for the police to be reborn as a truly democratic police force for the people."
According to Spokesperson Kang, after viewing the torture equipment on display, President Lee asked, "When was this place remodeled like this?" and "Why has this historical site been damaged?" Lee Jae-o, chairman of the Democracy Movement Memorial Project Association, who was present, replied, "After the June Democracy Movement, the National Police Headquarters removed all the equipment in an attempt to erase history."
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