2023-09-06 20:00:42
President Yoon Seok-yeol enters to attend the 60th anniversary ceremony of the National Diplomatic Academy held at the National Diplomatic Academy in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 1st. Presidential Correspondents
With President Yoon Seok-yeol’s recent declaration of ‘ideological politics’ and attempts to overturn history increasing, it is evaluated that this move is in line with the New Light worldview. The government’s re-evaluation of former President Syngman Rhee, showing strong will, ‘floating’ General Seon-yeop Baek, who has a history of pro-Japanese, and paying attention to North Korean human rights issues instead of exchanges and cooperation with North Korea are also in the same context. President Yoon’s recent remarks are full of ideological and hostile words such as ‘freedom’ and ‘anti-state forces’. He said, “Communist totalitarian forces have always disguised themselves as democracy activists, human rights activists, and progressive activists, and have been engaged in false agitation and mean and immoral operations” (last month 15th, Liberation Day celebration speech), “the most important thing is ideology” (last month 28th) . This approach is very similar to the perception of the New Light in the past. Originally, the New Right was a line that spread from the 1960s in the United States and Europe as a reaction to progressive, post-authoritarian social changes. However, in Korean politics, mainly those from the National Liberation (NL) movement, such as the converted Jupa, emerged around the year 2000. Because they changed their beliefs that they firmly believed in, they are generally very negative and hostile towards the North Korean system and its friendly forces. It insists that ‘we need to get away from outdated ideologies’, but rather shows a more extreme right-wing aspect. ‘Liberal democracy’, which President Yoon has been emphasizing since his inauguration, is also a word that came to life when New Light scholars put it on the public forum during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The New Right side argues that ‘liberal democracy’ is a universal and excellent system worldwide, and a framework that protects the country from confrontational North Korea and achieves economic growth. In 2011, the Korean Modern History Association, affiliated with the New Light, carried through the argument that ‘liberal democracy’ should be written instead of ‘democracy’ in the newly created elementary, middle, and high school history textbooks at the time. Criticism and controversy continued in the academic world, saying that “the concept is ambiguous” and “the basis cannot be found even in the constitution”. For this reason, the word disappeared from textbooks under the Moon Jae-in administration, but the new government that came into power last year decided to use liberal democracy again from 2025 textbooks. At the time of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the New Rights, which took full-scale influence such as the New Light National Coalition, Liberal Solidarity, Zeitgeist, Right Society Citizens’ Association, and Korean Peninsula Advancement Foundation, most of them supported Candidate Myung-bak Lee in the 2007 presidential election and later entered Yeouido, the Blue House, and the business world. The year was a win-win. In the 2012 general election, they failed and fell out of favor, but during the Park Geun-hye administration, they reached the peak of their organizational power by ‘betting everything’ on the promotion of state-issued textbooks. Afterwards, during the Moon Jae-in administration, he lost power as a collective force, but he is appointed to a key position in the Yoon Seok-yeol administration.
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For example, Minister of Unification Kim Young-ho, who began his term in July, served as the steering committee chair of the New Light ThinkNet, a think tank for New Right scholars, and has a history of working at the Textbook Forum, a New Right historical organization launched in 2005. Kim Kwang-dong, chairman of the Past Reconciliation Committee for Truth and Reconciliation, participated in writing the 2008 New Light alternative textbook on Korean modern and contemporary history, and Lee Bae-yong, chairman of the National Education Committee under the president, pushed for the nationalization of history textbooks during the Park Geun-hye administration. Lee Dong-gwan, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, wrote in a column in 2004 when he was political director of the Dong-A Ilbo, saying, “The New Right’s critical mind stems from the fact that the radical line is undermining the constitutional spirit of free democracy and market economy.” Presented. Kim Moon-soo, chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Committee, transformed 180 degrees from a labor activist into a far-right politician and was evaluated as a “model of the New Right” in the New Light camp. Kang Kyu-hyung, director of Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) (professor at Myongji University), participated as a member of the history textbook compilation review committee during the Park Geun-hye administration. Such appointments also seem to influence the government’s anti-communist policy and decision-making. It is interpreted that the fact that the Ministry of Unification removed the function of exchange and cooperation with unification in mind and reorganized the organization to put more weight on North Korean human rights issues has nothing to do with the appointment of Kim Young-ho as Minister of Unification. It was Na Jong-nam, a New Right affiliated military professor who participated in the writing of the state-issued modern history textbook during the Park Geun-hye administration, who led the government’s recent push to relocate the bust of General Hong Beom-do from the Military Academy. The dominant interpretation is that the theory of colonial modernization, which has been argued by the New Right side, is taking root despite the announcement of a third-party reimbursement method for victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period in March and the subsequent improvement in relations with Japan. It was an arbitrary decision with no social consensus process to add the explanation that closeness with the US and Japan is inevitable under the international situation where the structure of the new Cold War has been solidified. If you look at the policy actions that reflect the view of the state that sells out all criticism towards the government while promoting ‘anti-communism’, the dogmatic behavior that turns away even reasonable conservatives, and the unreasonable view of history, there will be ‘August 15 National Day claim’ and controversy over history textbooks There are many observations that it will recur. Political scientists pointed out that President Yoon seems unlikely to change the way he runs state affairs, which has focused on confrontation with the regime. Kim Yoon-chul, a professor of humanitas college at Kyunghee University (political science), told the Hankyoreh, “President Yoon seems to have made up his mind to exercise his political power by relying on his strong right-wing and conservative ideological tendencies. He pointed out that it is the background for the New Light to assemble,” and pointed out, “As I only focus on systemic confrontation inside and outside while revealing anti-communist conservative and conservative tendencies and conducting ideological politics, I am only doing politics that causes conflict.” Kim Hyeong-cheol, a research professor at the Democracy Institute at Sungkonghoe University (political science), said, “President Yoon’s biased ideological excesses and authoritarian behavior through the mobilization of law enforcement agencies such as the prosecution are interpreted as a willingness to run a more arbitrary government than during the Lee Myung-bak administration.” Reporter Mina Kim [email protected]
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