With the second anniversary of the December 3 martial law approaching, the People Power Party is divided over whether to apologize to the public again. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on the 4th that differences in tone can be felt among leader Jang Dong-hyeok, floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the leadership camp sounds negative about an apology. Supreme council member Shin Dong-wook said on YTN radio on the 4th that then floor leader Song Eon-seok had apologized earnestly last year, suggesting that apologizing every year is not appropriate. A lawmaker in the leadership camp said it is undecided whether Jang will issue a message and that there is currently no special plan; if he does, it would be about overcoming the past and moving forward rather than an apology.
광고 문의 · 300×250Jeong ‘still agonizing’, Oh ‘no reason not to’
Earlier the Chosun Ilbo reported that the party was preparing a public apology next month, and the party said that was not its official position, a reaction also seen in reports by Sisa Journal and OhmyNews. Jeong told the Kyunghyang Shinmun he is ‘still agonizing’ and asked, ‘when have I not been?’
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon told reporters at the National Assembly on the 3rd that the party should spare no effort to reach people’s hearts, that if the public is disappointed it must state its position clearly, and that there is no reason not to apologize regardless of how many times. The case for active apology thus came first from outside the party leadership.
Why even ‘apologize for the Lee government’ is heard
Non-leadership voices stressed the need to settle the matter. One lawmaker said last year’s controversy was not cleanly wrapped up and must be dealt with when December 3 comes, and another official said the party has never apologized properly and there are victims, so apologizing as many times as necessary is right. They also showed a sense that the party cannot keep being dragged along by ‘Yoon Again’ forces.
On the other hand, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that one party official argued the party should apologize not for responsibility for the insurrection but for the launch of the Lee Jae-myung government, adding that the dispute over the Democratic Party’s ‘fabricated prosecution special counsel bill’ may grow in December so the level of apology should depend on the mood then. December 3 also marks one and a half years since the current government took office.
The issue thus comes down to whether to repeat the apology yearly or as needed, and what to apologize for. The final line from Jang’s side did not appear in the reports we checked, and whether and in what form an apology will be made has not been confirmed.
