Moon blasts opposition lawmakers for denying May 18 Democratization Movement

Feb 19, 2019, 09:04 am

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President Moon Jae-in speaks in a meeting with his senior aides at his office Cheong Wa Dae on Monday./ Source: Yonhap News

By AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

President Moon Jae-in expressed rare anger Monday at opposition lawmakers who recently made false claims about the May 18 Democratization Movement and urged the people to “sternly reject any actions aimed at gaining political advantages by creating division and hatred.”

This is the first time that Moon has made a public statement regarding the controversy over the pro-democracy movement caused by some lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).

His remarks came after Cheong Wa Dae rejected two of three nominees recommended by the LKP for a fact-finding commission to uncover the truth about the May 18 Democratization Movement of 1980, which fueled another clash with the main opposition party.

President Moon Jae-in has apparently made it clear that there should be no more wasteful political and social debate over the May 18 Democratization Movement.

“Some in the National Assembly and political circle are now distorting and disparaging the May 18 Democratization Movemebt by claiming that it was a riot or North Korean forces were then sent to the South is an act of denying the history of our democratization and the Constitution,” the president said in a weekly meeting with his senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae.

“It is an act that can ultimately damage our democracy and destroy the foundation of our nation,” he said. “It is self-denial that the National Assembly should be ashamed of.” Moon went on to say that while freedom of expression and thought is guaranteed, the exercising of such rights cannot be allowed to damage democracy.

Moon listed a series of discussions about the May 18 Democratization Movement and said the historical evaluation of the related events is already completed.

“The May 18 Democratization Movement is determined as a democratization movement through laws passed by the National Assembly, such the Gwangju Democratization Movement Compensation Act in 1990, the May 18 Democratization Movement Special Act in 1995, and the Act on the Honorable Treatment of Persons of the May 18 Democratic Movement and laws are passed for compensating and honoring those involved in the movement,” the president said.

“In 1997, May 18 was designated as a national memorial day and every administration has since held national ceremonies on that day while announcing their succession of the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement,” he said.

“The present Constitution of Republic of Korea stands on the basis of the April 19 Revolution, the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests, the May 18 Democratization Movement, and the June 10 Democratic Uprising, and it declares a Democratic Republic and liberal democracy based on sovereignty of people by inheriting the democratic ideology,” Moon added.

The political situation is expected to get more and more chaotic with the president’s intense criticism over false claims about the May 18 Democratization Movement.

#Moon Jae-in #May 18 Democratization Movement #LKP