Rep. Lee Seok-gi, an opposition lawmaker under pressure to resign for being involved in an election fraud and sympathetic to North Korea, has rekindled the pro-North controversy by disapproving of South Korea's national anthem, Aegukga.
Lee, a member of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), has grabbed the media spotlight after he was elected to parliament in April through the UPP's rigged proportional representative primary and his alleged pro-North Korean views were made known to the public.
Meeting with reporters on Friday, Lee reportedly said that Aegukga, which literally means "patriotic song," or "song of love for the country," cannot be regarded as South Korea's national anthem.
"Our country has no national anthem. Aegukga has never been designated as the national anthem," Lee was quoted as telling reporters over lunch.
"Many people just sing Aegukga out of their affection towards the nation. Instead, Arirang can also be sung to show love towards our nation. I prefer Arirang. Forcing everyone to sing Aegukga is totalitarianism." Arirang is a popular Korean folk song.
Lee was referring to the UPP emergency committee's efforts to revamp the left-wing minor party's image tainted by the rigged primary, including singing Aegukga at the party's official events.
The UPP, which won 13 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, has refused to sing the national anthem at its official events and called for a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea.
Lee's remarks immediately sparked off public outcry, as Aegukga has long been sung as the national anthem since the founding of South Korea in 1948. Aegukga was given the legal status as the national anthem in 2010, according to officials at the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
"Lee's denial of Aegukga is tantamount to denying the identity of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The pro-North Korean forces here seem to be out of control," said Kim Young-woo, spokesman of the ruling Saenuri Party. The main opposition Democratic United Party also called Lee's remark as inappropriate.
Lee, who was sentenced to two years and six months in prison in
2003 on charges of involvement in a secret pro-North organization, already angered conservatives by saying in a recent radio interview that the problem in South Korea is not pro-North forces, but pro-U.S. forces.
Lee's national anthem remark came days after prosecutors raided his public relations company based in Seoul in connection with an investigation into an election fund embezzlement case. Prosecutors' investigation into the UPP's election irregularities is separately under way. (Yonhap News)
