Jeju governor demands ruling party expel Rep. Tae over uprising remarks

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Wed, September 27, 2023 | 23:41

Politics

Jeju governor demands ruling party expel Rep. Tae over uprising remarks

Posted : 2023-02-15 16:17

Updated : 2023-02-15 17:20

Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the ruling People Power Party rests his chin in his hand during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday. Newsis

Defector-turned-lawmaker claims North Korea's founder was behind April 3 incident

By Jung Min-ho

Jeju Governor Oh Young-hun demanded, Wednesday, that the ruling party expel a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker over remarks that the April 3 uprising on the southern island was triggered by the instructions of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung.

Tae Yong-ho, a candidate member of the People Power Party's (PPP) next Supreme Council and former North Korean deputy ambassador to Britain before his defection to South Korea in 2016, has caused a stir by apologizing to the victims during his visit to the island, Sunday, as he used to work for the regime.

The governor accused Tae of exploiting the tragedy to shore up the conservative base ahead of the March 8 party conference and demanded that he retract his statement and issue an apology.

"We Jeju residents have spent the last 70 years in misery due to the allegations that the Jeju uprising was a communist riot," Oh said in a statement. "If the PPP sincerely wishes to heal the pains from the incident, it should expel him immediately and issue an official apology."

The same day, a group of lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) filed a complaint with the National Assembly's ethics committee over his remarks. Wi Seong-gon, a lawmaker representing the residents in Jeju's Seogwipo, said there is "a serious problem" with Tae's perception of that chapter of Korean history and he should take responsibility by resigning.

The uprising occurred on the island in the late 1940s, when ideological conflict was in full swing in Korea after the country was liberated from Japan's colonial rule (1910-45). In protest of elections to be held only in the southern part of the peninsula controlled by the United States Army Military Government, protesters, including members of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK), attacked police stations, killed those they deemed right-wing supporters and burned polling stations.

Seeking a speedy resolution to the insurrection, the mainland authorities sent thousands of soldiers and members of the Northwest Youth Association, a violent anti-communist group, to Jeju to suppress them. Tens of thousands of people died as a result.

How much of a role the WPSK played in all this and to what extent the party interacted with the Workers' Party of North Korea, led by Kim Il-sung, are less clear. The two parties merged in 1949, forming the Workers' Party of Korea, which has ruled North Korea since.

Tae has refused to back down for stating what he said are "obvious facts." He added that his statement was not different from that of late former President Kim Dae-jung, a revered liberal figure, who said many innocent people died from the "riot triggered by communists." He also said the point of his comments during his visit to Jeju was not to offend the innocent victims, but to make it clear who was responsible for it so that such an incident will not be repeated.

During the suppression in 1948, Pak Hon-yong, a WPSK founding member, moved to North Korea, so it was under Kim's de facto control before its dissolution in June 1949, Tae claimed.

"Two things should be taught for students to learn the lessons of history: The government used excessive force on the victims and that it was a riot triggered by the WPSK," he said at a press conference, Wednesday. "Absolutizing their (DPK) own claims while denying historical facts and demonizing those expressing different views as far-right is not an intelligent attitude toward the historical truth."

mj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr