hankyoreh

Lee Jong-chan, the president of the Heritage of Korean Independence, explains his reasoning for deciding not to take part in the National Liberation Day ceremony while welcoming students to the Heritage Academy of Korea’s youth academy special lecture on Aug. 10, 2024. (courtesy of the HKI)

The rift is deepening between the presidential office and the Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI) over the appointment of Kim Hyoung-suk as the new president of the Independence Hall of Korea.

The decision made by Lee Jong-chan, the head of the HKI and a strong critic of Kim’s appointment, to reject the government’s invitation to the presidential office’s National Liberation Day event scheduled for Thursday was made public on Sunday. Lee stated that he would only attend the event if the government denounced all and any plans of recognizing the year 1948 as the foundation of the Republic of Korea.

As of Sunday, the presidential office was yet to release an official response. Lee demanded that Kim’s appointment be rescinded and slammed the presidential office for enabling a figure known for his associations with the “new right” movement — a controversial historical viewpoint that credits Japan with helping Korea modernize — into a position of power at a state agency. Lee has lambasted the appointment of Kim, saying it exposes the “specter of secret agents at work in Yongsan,” referring to the presidential office.  

Lee’s comments are startling considering his close ties with President Yoon Suk-yeol and that the phrase “secret agents” has not been used often in 21st-century Korean politics. Lee’s son, Lee Chul-woo, a professor of law at Yonsei Law School, is childhood friends with Yoon, and their two households have reportedly gotten along like family. Ahead of the presidential election of March 2022, Lee Jong-chan also publicly endorsed Yoon for president.

Despite such a chummy history, Lee spoke of feeling a sense of “utmost betrayal” by Yoon during a special lecture hosted by the Heritage Academy of Korea, run by the HKI, on Saturday. After putting his faith in Yoon, who had emphasized differentiating between the prewar Japan that engaged in wars of aggression and the postwar Japan that had maintained a pacifist constitution, Lee began to doubt that trust following a string of governmental appointments putting those affiliated with the new right in positions of power.

Lee also cited a “sense of crisis that South Korean traitors are scheming with the Japanese right, meaning that they are holding hands with those who uphold values of prewar Japan,” as the reason for his public objections. 

The movement to establish a holiday to commemorate the “foundation” of the Republic of Korea on Aug. 15, 1948, has heightened Lee’s sense of crisis. 

“The insistence on recognizing 1948, not 1919, as the foundation of our country, is part of a bigger movement that asks for the country to forget the wrongs inflicted by imperial Japan. This directly contradicts our country’s principle of condemning Japanese colonization, which has been upheld since the normalization of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan,” Lee said. 

Lee Jong-chan, the president of the Heritage of Korean Independence, explains his reasoning for deciding not to take part in the National Liberation Day ceremony while welcoming students to the Heritage Academy of Korea’s youth academy special lecture on Aug. 10, 2024. (courtesy of the HKI)

The provisional government of the Republic of Korea was established in exile in 1919, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. 

“I believe that this affair has been staged by secret agents surrounding the president,” Lee added, ordering a purge of those associated with the new right from the presidential office. 

While Kim claimed after his appointment that he was not part of the new right, Lee rebutted his assertion by stating, “Members of the new right are secret agents. No secret agent will admit their true identity. Even those who identify as the new right do not call themselves that. They’re like a poisonous gas — while they cannot be seen with the naked eye, they have disastrous effects.”

Despite the HKI’s outrage, the presidential office has stayed mum on the matter. 

“The HKI should engage in dialogue with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. We still wish for the participation of Lee and others in the National Liberation Day ceremony and luncheon,” a presidential official commented during a phone call with the Hankyoreh.

The HKI has declared that it will not attend the 79th National Liberation Day ceremony, which is hosted by the government, and will instead hold an independent event at 10 am on Thursday, Aug. 15 at the Kim Koo Museum and Library to celebrate South Korea’s liberation with the coalition for associations of the independence movement.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]