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Kim Hyoung-suk, the newly appointed president of the Independence Hall of Korea, takes a seat at his press conference held at the Seoul VA Regional Office on Aug. 12, 2024, to address controversy over purported “new right” views. (Yonhap)

Kim Hyoung-suk, the newly appointed president of the Independence Hall of Korea, is protesting criticism from the Heritage of Korean Independence (HKI) and others that claim that he endorses Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea as a member of the “new right” movement by saying such claims are misleading and stem from misunderstanding.

 “They are using the public to falsely accuse me of being part of the new right, holding a people’s court much like a witch hunt,” Kim lashed out at his detractors.

Kim held a press conference Monday afternoon at the Seoul Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Yongsan. 

“If my argument is flawed, it should be refuted academically. We should engage in a public debate,” he said at the press conference. 

As such, Kim is dismissing criticism stating that he is not qualified to head the Independence Hall of Korea, which upholds the spirit of national sovereignty and independence, based on his past statements and writing as mere “academic quibbles.”

“I have no intention of stepping down from my post as president,” Kim assured reporters.

The HKI, which has denounced Kim as a member of the new right movement, said that the nine definitions of the new right state that “those claiming that people of Korea had Japanese nationality during Japanese occupation are considered to be part of the new right.”

Lee Jong-chan, the head of the HKI, stated in various televised interviews and public lectures that during his interview for the Independence Hall’s presidential post, Kim was asked what he thought the nationality of the people of Korea during Japanese colonialism was. Kim, according to Lee, confidently replied that he considered the people to have been “Japanese.”

“While the HKI is besmirching my reputation, there are some who are distorting comments I made during brief conversations to spread falsities,” Kim asserted, claiming that Lee is twisting his words. He also stated that he would “consider strict legal measures in response to defamation.”

Kim said, “I am not a member of the new right movement, as I do not sympathize with those who scorn the work of those who fought for Korea’s independence and support Japan’s colonial rule of Korea.”

Yim Hun-young, the president of the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, argues that Kim has “always been problematic,” even before the new right issue became public. 

“He’s acting like a traitor to the nation. A member of the new right would, at least, have a clear idea of its ethnic and national identity, but he is engaging in a philosophy that cannot be associated with the new right as it goes against both issues of ethnicity and nationality,” Yim said. 

Kim continuously emphasized that he opposes the recognition of Aug. 15, 1948, as the official date of foundation of the Republic of Korea, also stating that he places more importance on the liberation of Korea in 1945 than on the establishment of the First Republic of Korea in 1948. 

When asked if he would swear on his post as the president of the Independence Hall of Korea to oppose all attempts to designate Aug. 15 as the official “Foundation Day” of South Korea, Kim claimed, “I will swear on my integrity as a historian to firmly oppose such movements.”

Despite such assurances, he also opened up the possibility of seeing a change in the country’s foundation year from 1919 to 1948. “The nation was not founded in a day. It started with the provisional government in Shanghai in 1919 and was completed with the formation of the inaugural government in 1948.”

The argument here is that there was a 29-year process of national foundation lasting from 1919 to 1948. In contrast, the HKI has called the idea of a national foundation year in 1948 unconstitutional, citing the preamble of the Constitution, which states that the Republic of Korea “uphold[s] the cause of the Provisional Republic of Korea Government born of the March First Independence Movement of 1919.”

The same day, Kim also stressed that he had “led the way in exalting the independence spirit through numerous talks and hundreds of texts.”

In response, Institute of Independence Movement Studies director Sin Ju-back said, “Kim Hyoung-suk has talked about researching independence movement history, but his name has not really been talked about among academic researchers on independence movement history.”

Sin also said that he had “no way of knowing what [Kim] has researched with regard to the independence movement,” adding that it was “not worth commenting on.”

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

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