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A poster for a rally organized by the Center for Historical Truth and Justice to be held on Aug. 10, 2024, at the Independence Hall in Cheonan in protest of the appointment of Kim Hyoung-suk to direct the Independence Hall. 

The appointment of Kim Hyoung-suk, director of the Korea History and Future Foundation, as the new president of the Independence Hall of Korea aroused strong pushback from organizations linked to the Korean independence movement such as Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI) and the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, which object to Kim’s perceived links to the “new right” movement.

HKI, an organization for the descendants of freedom fighters, warned Wednesday of the possibility of a mishap occurring at the official commemoration of Korea’s Liberation Day, on Aug. 15, which Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is supposed to attend.

The Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities announced it will hold a protest this weekend in front of Independence Hall to denounce Kim’s appointment as director, and opposition party lawmakers on Independence Hall’s board of directors resigned their posts in protest.

HKI held a joint meeting of its board of directors and various chapter directors at its office in Seoul on Wednesday.

“A figure who supports 1948 being recognized as the foundation of the Republic of Korea — an idea that would treat [Japan’s] colonial rule as legal — has been appointed to serve as director of Independence Hall as part of a scheme to give institutional credence to the idea that the Republic of Korea was established in 1948 [rather than in 1919] and to turn Independence Hall into ‘National Establishment Hall,’” HKI said after the meeting.

Most of the people at the meeting expressed concern about the possibility of something embarrassing occurring if they attended the government’s official ceremony for Liberation Day on Aug. 15 and a related event at the state guest house organized by the president.

Some people suggested that HKI members boycott the guest house event in protest, while a majority supported a proposal to hold a demonstration at the official Liberation Day ceremony to make sure their view is heard.

“Putting Independence Hall in the charge of someone who believes that collaboration with the Japanese was not betrayal of the nation amounts to legalizing Japan’s colonial occupation and rule of Korea and regarding the independence movement as pointless and misguided. That’s akin to the secret agents used by the Japanese colonial administration to undermine the forces of independence and sow division among them while sapping the national spirit,” HKI Chairman Lee Jong-chan said during the meeting.

“When appointments are conducted like this, I seem to see the specter of secret agents at work [in the presidential office] at Yongsan, just as during the Japanese colonial period,” Lee said in an interview on the MBC radio show “A Closer Look with Kim Jong-bae” on Wednesday morning.

“People who argue that the republic was established in 1948 are newly minted Japanese collaborators who want to give legal standing to [Japan’s colonial] occupation,” Lee said in the interview.

Lee went on to describe the new right as “modern-day secret agents” for the Japanese, remarking that he “got the impression that the [president’s] aides are playing some kind of trick on him right now.”

Han Byung-do, Kwon Chil-seung and Song Ok-joo, lawmakers with the Democratic Party, announced that they would resign their seats on the Independence Hall board of directors in protest of Kim’s appointment. Han, Kwon and Song had been recommended for those seats by the speaker of the National Assembly.

“The Independence Hall director’s selection was conducted lawfully, and Kim Hyoung-suk is not part of the new right,” an official with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said in response to the controversy over Kim’s appointment.

The Independence Hall director is appointed based on the recommendation of several candidates by the hall’s hiring committee, one of whom is selected by the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and submitted for the president’s approval.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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