New chief of Independence Hall of Korea accused of being ‘pro-Japan’

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s recent appointment of a conservative professor who is accused of supporting the New Right political movement that justifies Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula as the source of Korea's modernization, as chief of the national museum dedicated to the country’s independence movement, has been met with a torrent of criticism from independence fighters' descendants.

The Heritage of Korean Independence, a Seoul-based organization tasked with upholding the spirit of Korea's independence movement, announced Friday a boycott of the Aug. 14 luncheon celebrating Aug. 15 Liberation Day hosted by the presidential office. The organization, with some of its members being actual descendants of Korean independence activists who fought to liberate the peninsula from Japan’s colonial rule, cited the government’s decision to appoint Kim Hyung-seok, who officially took office as the director of the Independence Hall of Korea on Thursday, as the reason behind their decision.

“It would be meaningless to join a luncheon celebrating the liberation of Korea as long as someone who justifies colonial rule and has labeled the nationality of our people Japanese during the (colonial period), as president of the Independence Hall,” the HKI said in a statement released Thursday.

The HKI has previously accused Kim of being part of the country’s New Right political movement that justifies imperial Japan's colonial occupation of Korea as the source of its modernization and enlightenment.

Critics have accused the New Right movement of glossing over colonial atrocities, crimes and discrimination as well as the collaboration of certain Korean elites with the imperial Japanese government at the time. Many New Right supporters also claim that Korea’s true liberation began with the inauguration of South Korea's first President Syngman Rhee in 1948, which critics say undermines the the independence fighters' work.

The HKI’s accusations are in line with a video that recently surfaced online showing Kim saying that those who believe that Liberation Day is “Aug. 15, 1945, do not clearly know history,” during a private lecture with a conservative group last year.

“(South Korea’s) first government was established on Aug. 15, 1948 -- the Republic of Korea starts there,” he said during the lecture.

The HKI has also claimed that Kim said during his interview for the position to lead the Independence Hall that Koreans “were citizens of Japan” during Japan's colonial occupation of the peninsula, contradicting the organization’s beliefs that Koreans were never Japanese citizens as they were never treated in an equal manner.

Kim, now a former professor of Kosin University in Busan, has denied the claims that he is a member of the New Right movement.

“I do not exactly understand the concept of the New Right movement,” Kim said in a press conference held after his inauguration ceremony on Thursday.

“I believe it either means people who were once part of the student activist movements (in the ‘70s and ‘80s) and now have conservative views, or scholars who agree with Japan's colonial rule (of Korea) if viewed in terms of academic history. I do not belong to either category,” he added.

Despite Lee’s remarks, Korea's liberal bloc, including the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, echoed the HKI’s criticism, denouncing the Yoon administration’s decision to appoint a pro-Japan figure as head of the national museum dedicated to Korea's independence movement.

“The heads of the Academy of Korean Studies and National Institute of Korean History have been dominated by New Right figures who are pro-Japan,” Democratic Party acting Chair and Floor Leader Rep. Park Chan-dae said during a Friday intra-party leadership meeting.

“The institutions tasked with carrying out research into Korea's history in morally right ways have become hosts for virus-like pro-Japan forces,” he continued.

Park also called for Yoon to retract Kim’s appointment.

Kim’s three-year term as the president of the Independence Hall of Korea is set to end Aug. 7, 2027.