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Citizens opposed to an attempt by the President Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation to install a statue of the former president demonstrate outside the Park Chung-hee Memorial Library in the Mapo District of Seoul on Nov. 13. (by Lee Jung-ah, staff photographer)
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Young people and progressives are most strongly against commemorating the former president
Amid ongoing controversy over the President Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation’s installment of a statue of Park Chung-hee on the site of the Park Chung-hee Memorial Library, located in the Sangam neighborhood of Seoul’s Mapo District, a recent public opinion poll shows that two out of three South Koreans are opposed to constructing the statue. On Nov. 16, polling organization Real Meter published the results of a survey it carried out on 511 people on Nov. 15 at the request of the TBS television and radio network. The survey, which had a sample error of ±4.3% and a confidence of 95%, found that 66.5% of respondents were opposed to building a statue (50.7% very much opposed, 15.8% somewhat opposed), which was more than two times greater than the 30.1% who supported it (16.3% very much in favor, 13.8% somewhat in favor). By ideological orientation, opposition was found to be higher among progressives (4.0% in favor to 94.2% opposed) and moderates (33.1% to 62.6%), while the majority of conservatives (68.0% to 28.7%) were in favor of the statue. By age group, opposition was extremely high among people in their thirties (11.1% in favor to 86.3% opposed) and their twenties (14.7% to 80.2%), while opponents were also in the majority among people in their forties (21.4% to 77.2%) and fifties (36.1% to 60.5%). Supporters held the upper hand among people in their sixties and above (56.7% in favor to 38.7% opposed). On Nov. 13, the President Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation and a group promoting the erection of the statue held a ceremony celebrating the donation of the statue at the Park Chung-hee Memorial Library, which triggered a clash between conservative groups who support the former president and civic groups who oppose him. The 4.2 meter bronze statue of Park Chung-hee, which was produced by a group promoting the installation of statues for Rhee Syngman, Harry Truman and Park Chung-hee, is currently in storage in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Presuming that they receive approval from Seoul, the Park Chung-hee Memorial Foundation and the group promoting the statue are planning to set it up in the courtyard of the Park Chung-hee Memorial Library. By Lee Seung-joon, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
