» For Encyclopedia of Pro-North Korea Figures.

A member of a conservative organization stands up in protest against the Committee for the Normalization of the State because the committee excluded former President Kim Dae-jung and late President Roh Moo-hyun from the Encyclopedia of Pro-North Korea Figures at a press conference hosted by the committee at the Press Center located in Seoul, Nov. 26.

The committee held a press conference to explain its plan to publish the Encyclopedia of Pro-North Korea Figures in response to the publishing of the Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures by the Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities (IRCA). A committee official announced that they plan to disclose 100 pro-North Korea figures in December.

However, the press conference was interrupted by elderly members of a conservative organization when the committee announced in response to questions from reporters that the two former presidents would not be included in the entries of the Encyclopedia.

The conservative organization’s members asked, “How can you make the encyclopedia while excluding Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun who were the main figures in destroying this country?”

Many are worried, however, that the concept of designating pro-North Korea figures is similar to concepts used by authoritarian governments to suppress figures related to the democratic movement.

Photo by Kang Jae-hoon/The Hankyoreh