hankyoreh

Chung Jin-suk, the interim leader of the ruling People Power Party, speaks to the press after appearing at an event at the National Assembly on Oct. 11. (Yonhap)

Interim leader of the ruling People Power Party Chung Jin-suk claimed Tuesday that Joseon collapsed due to “rotting from the inside,” sparking controversy over his colonialist view of Korea’s history. Some within Chung’s own party have called for him to apologize for his remarks and step down from his position as interim chief.

“Why did Joseon collapse? Was it due to the Japanese invasion?” Chung asked in a post to Facebook Tuesday. “Joseon collapsed due to rotting from the inside. Japan never was at war with the Joseon dynasty.”

The comment was made as a criticism of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who voiced opposition to joint military drills by Korea, the US and Japan, by saying, “The ‘Rising Sun’ flag could once again fly on the Korean Peninsula.”

Chung continued, “The Joseon dynasty was incompetent and ignorant,” adding, “Japan put its fortune on the line, overpowering the Qing dynasty and Russia by force, and swallowed the collapsing Joseon dynasty. Joseon did not have the power to protect itself.”

Ban Byung-yool, a professor of Korean history at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told the Hankyoreh over the phone, “Japan’s invasion of the Korean Peninsula was one of the steps in its huge project to build an East Asian empire.”

“Chung’s claim that Japan invaded Joseon due to the latter’s division, therefore, is at odds with the facts.”

Ban continued, “Chung’s argument follows the same logic as that used by pro-Japanese groups during the Japanese colonial era. There is a risk that such a claim can proliferate and be reproduced after being shamelessly parroted by the leader of the ruling party.”

Chung is also president of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union.

Members of ruling and opposition parties did not hold back criticism.

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-min posted on Facebook, “‘Japan never was at war with the Joseon dynasty’? Is this truly a claim made by the interim chief of our party?”

Yoo criticized the statement as “a shallow remark that plays into Lee Jae-myung’s trap.”

Yoo continued, “What did Yi Sun-sin, Ahn Jung-geun, and Yun Dong-ju sacrifice their lives for? I demand that Chung immediately apologize to the public for his absurd remarks and resign from the position of interim chief.”

Lawmaker Kim Woong of the same party also criticized Chung’s remark as “a typical logic of the perpetrator,” saying, “Goguryeo also had internal conflict. Then does this mean that the Tang dynasty’s invasion was not the cause of its collapse?”

Leader of the Democratic Party Park Hong-keun said that Chung “demonstrated the typical colonialist view that Japan had used as a justification for its invasion of Joseon.”

“It is one of the most absurd comments made by the leader of the ruling party in history,” Park added.

After the controversy spread, Chung published another post on Facebook saying, “Joseon as a national community had become seriously ill and tasted the sorrows of national ruin due to its lack of power.”

“Just because I pointed this out, they are attacking me by saying I possess a pro-Japanese, colonialist view of history. This distorts and misleads the nature of the commentary,” Chung said, refuting criticism.

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter

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