Opposition parties slam Lee Jin-suk's May 18 forum as 'turning National Assembly into far-right stage'

Progressive ruling-bloc parties have strongly condemned People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-suk's announcement of a controversial academic forum on the May 18, 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising, accusing her of exploiting the National Assembly to distort history.

Democratic Party spokesperson Park Hae-cheol said Wednesday that Lee's moves to distort the May 18 uprising were "turning the National Assembly into a stage for far-right historical views," adding that her conduct was "increasingly outrageous."

Park said Lee — a lawmaker who should be defending democratic values and historical truth — had announced plans to co-host a "liberal-democratic perspective on May 18 academic forum" with a group called Saeyeoksa Gungmin Undong, which has a record of distorting and denigrating the May 18 pro-democracy movement. "This is nothing other than opening the doors of the National Assembly to forces that distort history," he said.

Park also said Lee's controversies over May 18 were nothing new, and that organizing the forum was "nothing other than a continuation of her appalling historical awareness and low-grade distortion and incitement."

He said the group co-hosting the forum had referred to the May 18 pro-democracy movement as the "Gwangju Incident" and claimed that Gwangju was being dominated by "anti-civilization, anti-modern populist and nationalist forces." The group had also argued, he said, that defining May 18 as a massacre orchestrated by state violence was not appropriate.

Park said Lee showed boundless leniency toward forces that distort May 18 while applying a "gag-order standard" to the press. Her duty, he said, was to protect historical truth and democratic values — not to exploit the National Assembly for historical distortion.

The Progressive Party also urged Lee to immediately cancel what it called an anti-historical forum that denied the May 18 Gwangju uprising.

Progressive Party spokesperson Noh Hye-ryeong criticized the stated platform of Saeyeoksa Gungmin Undong — the group co-hosting the forum with Lee — as "shocking to the point of being horrifying." She cited planks including "liberate Gwangju," "halt Korean history education," "the long-term rule of presidents Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee was legitimate," and "participate in an international war to defend a free Taiwan."

Noh said the group's platform plank calling to "liberate Gwangju" effectively designated the city as a den of anti-state forces, and referred to the May 18 Gwangju uprising as the "Gwangju Incident." "We cannot suppress our sense of devastation that a group holding such anti-historical and anti-social views is hosting a forum that undermines the spirit of the May 18 Gwangju uprising, with its leader taking part in the discussion," she said.

Noh also pressed the People Power Party directly, urging it not to dismiss the forum as a personal event by Lee alone and to take responsible action to stop it. "Unless the PPP is willing to declare itself a party of insurrection, it must make its position clear on this anti-historical conduct," she said.

Lee is scheduled to co-host an open forum titled "A New Look at the May 18 Pro-Democracy Movement" with Saeyeoksa Gungmin Undong at the National Assembly Library's main auditorium at 2 p.m. Thursday.

The forum aims to reexamine the May 18 pro-democracy movement from a liberal-democratic perspective and consider historical interpretations that differ from the established view.

Lee said the historical significance and sacrifices of May 18 "must be respected," but added that "it is a separate matter to say that all interpretations or the system surrounding May 18 cannot be subject to questioning." She also said the special law and the institutions and assessments established afterward "must also be examined in accordance with facts and principles."