Commemoration Project for 60th Anniversary of Independence Suffers a Series of Disruptions

The commemoration project for the 60th anniversary of Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule that the government is enthusiastically pushing forward got off to a shaky start.

The government launched the “commission on the commemoration project for the 60th anniversary of Korea’s independence” which will cover nationwide commemoration ceremonies under the Office of the Prime Minister on February 2.

However, the appointment of a former president of a women’s university nominated as a co-head of the commission was canceled in the face of the opposition from civic groups. After that, on February 12, producer Kim Sang-soo (photo), who was nominated as a member of the planning commission for the 60th anniversary of Korea’s independence under the Office for Government Policy Coordination, raised his voice, saying, “The commemoration project for the 60th anniversary of Korea’s independence is being swayed by non-experts.”

In particular, Kim’s accusation had the commission all the more puzzled as it came in the run-up to the first plenary meeting scheduled for February 14 at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Hyochang Park in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

He mentioned careers of three other planning members in an article posted on his homepage, titled, “Who drives the Roh Moo-hyun government into isolation and crisis?”, criticizing, “They strike me as cronies of political fraction who are accustomed to the convenient sectarian culture, rather than experts in something.”

The three members are former aides of a minister of the Culture and Tourism, the head of a provincial planning company, and secretary general of a private arts group. Kim argues that a secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister was deeply involved in getting them to be appointed as members of the commission.

He went on to say in the article, “A powerful secretary who has nothing to do with the planning commission is swaying it behind the scenes,” adding, “The three members and the secretary in question put violent and humiliating pressure related to personnel, saying that they would kick an aide dispatched from a ministry off the commission. The reason was that the aide requested compliance with the president’s instructions in managing the commission.”

According to the article, the main slogan of the commemoration project was made by secretaries of the Office of the Prime Minister and copywriters of an ad company, not by the planning commission, before being reported to the prime minister.

Hong Yoon-shik, head of the planning commission, refuted this, saying, “It is only natural that the Office of the Prime Minister participates in formulating a keynote or direction, selecting members and creating a framework of the project. It is nonsense to call it “swaying” the commission.”

The project is a massive project that the government is enthusiastically pushing forward, allocating as much as two billion won in operating costs alone.

Yong-Gwan Jung yongari@donga.com