It is hard to accept that the city of Gwangju is trying to replace all ten members of its May 18 Democracy Campaign compensation review committee immediately ahead of the fifth round of reviews. Among those whose cases are to be reexamined is former president Kim Dae Jung's second son Kim Hong Up, and you hear talk about how maybe the city is trying to replace committee members for his sake. The move got postponed Thursday after the Hankyoreh reported on what was going on, but you still worry because the city government's behavior may be damaging the spirit of the May 18 Democracy Campaign.
Kim Hong Up was listed as a wanted man in May 1980 and immediately went into hiding. Later he was put in confinement for 76 days and is said to still suffer after effects. The review committee, however, refused is application saying that it was only recognizing persons who served sentences for alleged orchestration of the "so-called Kim Dae Jung insurrection conspiracy." 473 persons have had their applications rejected previously for various reasons. Of those 331, including Kim, had applied for another review of their cases, which the committee rejected again. Since then they've been calling for all the committee members to be replaced.
You can apply to have your case reexamined as much as you like. The committee has to take those petitions seriously. But it is still not right that Gwangju accepted the demand that committee members be replaced. Not once in the four previous rounds of application examinations have all the committee members been replaced in order to reexamine previous rejections. Furthermore they say there has been no agreement with the groups who nominated the initial committee members. The demand that they be replaced inevitably looks like a demand that the new applications be accepted unconditionally.
Anyone who receives official recognition receives compensation and can be buried in a national cemetery, and for that reason the review process must be strict. There are many who contributed to the campaign and, not wanting compensation, have never even applied. If Gwnagju wants to avoid dishonoring them it should reverse its decision to replace everyone on the committee. As for Kim Hong Up, we hope to see him quit the application process and by doing so quiet the unnecessary criticism.
The Hankyoreh, 8 September 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Gwangju City Wrong to Replace May 18 Committee |
