Younger Members of Ruling Party Insist on “Chairman Shin’s Immediate Resignation”

On August 17, Shin Gi-nam, the chairman of the Uri Party, refused to resign early in regard to the fact that his father had served as a military policeman under the Japanese colonial rule. As a result, a controversy is heating up as the younger members and some seniors of ruling Uri Party are objecting to this matter by demanding Chairman Shin’s immediate resignation.

Chairman Shin appeared on a MBC radio program yesterday morning and said, “I don’t think it is the right step to express my attitude right now,” and denied some reports of “his course of action will be expressed in a day or two,” saying, “I never said those kinds of words, and they are not true.”

Chun Jung-bae, the floor leader of the Uri Party, also insisted, “Chairman Shin’s father’s problem should not act upon as an implicative system in connection to his son’s problem.”

However, lawmaker Ahn Yong-gun said, “If his father has such a record, then Chairman Shin should not be in charge of a party as a representative,” and added, “This is a matter of the identity as well as the legitimacy of the party, as much as the fact that Chairman Shin’s father was a staff sergeant under the Japanese colonial rule and also was a policeman after the Korea’s independence which is an epitome for being a pro-Japanese.”

Ahn in particular said, “The problem is that Chairman Shin had told a lie,” and prompted for Chairman Shin’s resignation and the party`s early national convention. It is also known that some senior non-government members are also strongly demanding Chairman Shin for a self-resignation.

Kim Duk-ryong, the floor leader of Grand National Party, condemned the Uri Party at the leading officer meeting yesterday saying, “The guidance division including Chairman Shin has been acting as if they were pure white, but it has been exposed that Chairman Shin’s family was the kind of family that lived off the fat of the land for three generations by being a pro-Japanese, like the same family as President Roh criticized at his congratulatory speech on the Liberation Day.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed on August 17 that the Uri Party is considering a plan to expand the category of the pro-Japanese identification amendment from a major general to a staff sergeant for the military, and from police superintendent to a policeman for the police.

Young-Chan Yoon Seung-Heon Lee yyc11@donga.com ddr@donga.com