Calls are mounting within the pro-government camp for the resignation of Lee Byung-tae, vice chairman of the Regulatory Rationalization Committee, who said the 5·18 Democratization Movement "has become a sacred cow."
Choi Min-hee, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, called for Lee's resignation through social media on Friday. "You defended the disparagement and mockery of 5·18 and said, 'Is 5·18 a sacred cow?' Then, after the Presidential Office issued a warning, you said, 'I don't know what I should apologize for.' You don't fit with the Lee Jae-myung administration," she wrote.
Choi had posted a similar message on Thursday. At the time, she criticized Lee, writing, "What kind of freedom of expression is disparaging and mocking 5·18?" She added it was "an insult to the spirits and honorees of 5·18, as well as to democracy and the people, based on a distorted historical consciousness."
Kim Nam-jun, a lawmaker regarded as a close confidant of President Lee Jae-myung, also said through his Facebook that Lee should voluntarily resign. "This matter is not a simple debate over freedom of expression," Kim wrote. "Academic discussion and criticism (of 5·18) are possible, but the act of mocking or caricaturing a history of suffering cannot be shielded in the name of freedom of expression," he noted. "Vice Chairman Lee can express his views as a free citizen. But he cannot continue making remarks that undermine national unity and constitutional values while holding the title of vice chairman of a committee under the direct authority of the president."
He continued, "Above all, he must not put his private rights first and blur the Lee Jae-myung administration's will for unity." He argued, "Since dismissal is not possible, stepping down on his own is the minimum responsibility to the people and to the appointing authority. Voluntary resignation is the answer."
Kim Nam-guk, a lawmaker who formerly served as the Blue House's Secretary for National Digital Communication, also stressed on social media the previous day that the remarks were "truly inappropriate and devastating." "Freedom of expression is a core value of democracy," he said. "But the act of caricaturing the tragedy in which the state turned its guns on the people, and the history in which citizens defended democracy with their lives, cannot be shielded as freedom of expression."
Kim said, "Vice Chairman Lee should immediately apologize before the people for his mistaken perception and reckless remarks." He added, "We will no longer stand by and watch anti-constitutional behavior that shakes our government's regulatory reform stance and undermines the values of democracy, and I issue a very stern warning."
Park Byung-eon, senior spokesperson of the Rebuilding Korea Party, also took aim in a commentary the same day, saying that Lee was "appointed despite concerns from many people under the government's integrative operating stance." Park said, "The standard for integrative state affairs encompassing both left and right should be, at the very least, a person who respects constitutional values."
He said, "The 5·18 Democratization Movement is a history that forms the backdrop of today's Korean society, to the extent that there is national consensus to include it in the preamble of the Constitution." He warned, "We must not tolerate, in the name of unity, even a figure who has directly raised red-baiting by comparing this to North Korea." He added, "The Rebuilding Korea Party calls for Vice Chairman Lee's voluntary resignation," saying, "That would be the path for a public official of prime-minister rank to avoid dividing the people and to contribute to integrative state governance."
Earlier, Lee sparked controversy in connection with the dispute over the Baejae High School baseball team's "Starbucks cheering chant," arguing that "5·18 has become a sacred cow in this land," and comparing it to "the image of North Korea wailing at the sight of a newspaper bearing Kim Il-sung's photo getting soaked in the rain, more than the Republic of Korea."
Lee also stated through social media the previous day, "The core of my opinion is freedom of expression. This is one of the universal basic rights of humanity." He added, "As a certain politician said, even shouting 'Long live Kim Il-sung' in the middle of Seoul should be allowed. That is a basic right."
