▲ Lee Jong-chan, the 23rd President of the Liberation Committee, applauds while listening to a congratulatory speech at the inauguration ceremony held at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 22nd. ⓒNewsis
<이종찬 신임 광복회장께 보내는 공개서한>
Congratulations on your inauguration as the president of the Liberation Association. It was nice to hear the news of the election.
Not only is he the grandson of Udang Lee Hoi-yeong,
He is the grandson of Lee Si-young, the first vice president of the Republic of Korea.
He was a senior officer in the Korean Armed Forces and had the experience of serving as the head of the National Intelligence Service during the days of President Kim Dae-jung.
The Liberation Society, which suffered for a long time due to unsavory events,
To restore the original spirit and status as a gathering of descendants of our independence activists,
Because it was sure to make a big contribution.
Unfortunately, looking at the interview articles following the inauguration ceremony on June 22,
I was astonished along with many patriotic citizens.
I’m not sure how accurate the report was.
It is because the historical consciousness of the chairman and reporters revealed in the process was greatly wrong.
President Seok-Yeol Yoon, who said, “If only the national identity is established, the country will be normalized.”
No, it is moving in the opposite direction of establishing the national identity rightly desired by all the people who are greatly concerned about the country being shaken mentally.
Ignorance and misunderstanding of history were revealed.
(That’s why I’ve been dealing with the president and my family,
The deep friendship that has been built since the generation of my maternal grandfather, who lived with remorse for ruined country,
In spite of the fear of damage
I have decided to write this open letter.
If there is a conflict between the public and the private,
You are well aware that putting the ball first was the common teaching of our ancestors who devoted themselves to the country.)
■ Founding of the country in 1919 distorted history
The first thing I would like to point out is
When was our Republic of Korea established as an independent country?
This is a central issue of national identity.
The expression in the president’s inaugural address, “The first year of Korea was 1919,”
As with the preamble of the current Constitution, “Inheriting the legal tradition of the Provisional Government”
As long as it is interpreted that the will for independence and the ideological basis of the democratic republic have been passed down since then, it can be all right.
in that context
There is a view that the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea in 1948 is the reconstruction or resurrection of the Republic of Korea,
President Syngman Rhee himself once used the expression “30 years of the Republic of Korea” at a government declaration ceremony.
However, objective historical facts do not change with the words of a few people.
Not on August 15, 1948
The assertion that the launch of the Provisional Government in Shanghai in April 1919 was the establishment of our Republic of Korea is a clear distortion of history.
A provisional government is a provisional government
It is not a formal state recognized internally and externally for its ability to protect its people.
Dr. Syngman Rhee and Dr. Kim Gu tried their best to get the Provisional Government to be recognized as our Provisional Government in Exile,
No country, not even the friendly Chiang Kai-shek government, refused to recognize it.
The vast majority of Koreans who lived under the pressure of Japanese imperialism in Korea,
I didn’t even know that there was a Provisional Government.
Moreover, since the North Korean side insists that “South Korea was founded by pro-Japanese factions in 1948,”
Or, if the Republic of Korea was founded in 1948, it would fall on the same level as North Korea, which declared the People’s Democratic Republic in the same year 1948.
1919 should be the first year of the Republic of Korea.
In the Liberation Society, the idea of writing the era name as ‘104 years of Korea’ instead of AD,
I can only call it a delusion.
What we turned short term into standing
It was a decision to promote national development by facilitating communication with the outside world.
The Liberation Society, which needs to reinterpret the spirit of independence in accordance with the changing world situation,
I don’t think it’s a revivalist idea to isolate oneself from the world.
The 1919 founding theory,
Some blind unification supremacists, like Moon Jae-in, claim that “Korea should never have been born.”
on the basis of nationalism
Don’t you know that this claim was made to undermine the national identity of the Republic of Korea and paralyze the public consciousness?
During the Provisional Government
There was no distinction between North and South Korea, and the communist-affiliated provisional officials who participated together
Aren’t you aware of the resignation of Syngman Rhee from the post of the first president of the Liberal Democratic Party?
■ Is the 1919 founding theory a trend in the history academia? Thousands of words
second.
Which way is the bigger problem
He grew up experiencing the period of Japanese rule, liberation, and the founding of the Republic of Korea.
The erroneous perception of history by elders like Chairman Lee is harmful to succeeding generations.
Many media outlets reporting on the inauguration of President Lee
The president’s assertion that 1919 was the first year of the Republic of Korea
Although different from the views of ‘some New Right conservatives’,
Seeing that the position of the ‘historical world in general’ was written in that way,
On another, more worrying level, my heart sank.
Which ‘historical world’ are they talking about?
Of course, leading figures in our history academia since immediately after liberation
world famous historian,
Even communist scholars who were hostile to the Republic of Korea
No one sees that Korea was born in 1919, not 1948.
However, a dangerous assumption is made, as if what is important in history is not ‘facts’ but ‘opinions’ or ‘arguments’.
It can’t be a big deal because it is prevalent at the bottom of the thoughts of reporters who will lead the new generation.
In other words, Chairman Lee Jong-chan, who can never be of Korean nationality, is contributing to this.
In order for national identity to be corrected, a correct national consciousness must be formed.
It is said that it becomes possible only when we remember and recognize history as it happened.
Just because you want, claim, and proclaim independence
It is not possible to live as a citizen of a practically independent country.
If wish can control reality,
why do we Did you strategize with the people of the ruined country?
The 3.1 Movement in 1919 and the Provisional Government Proclamation
It was the starting point of the independence struggle, not the end point, liberation.
Some sympathetic politicians and historians
They claim that 1919 is the year of the birth of the Republic of Korea.
It does not become a globally recognized fact.
The Provisional Government was called the Provisional Government.
after liberation <건국준비위원회> Organizations with the same name were created like bamboo shoots after rain
This is because the Provisional Government was a provisional government, not a state body with the right to command over the people.
Allied powers such as the United States and the Soviet Union, who liberated us through victory over Japan,
Our Provisional Government was recognized only as an arbitrary organization.
We were liberated not only from Japanese imperialism but also from the US military government.
What was able to be reborn as an independent country,
The victorious forces of the United States and the Allied Powers (which won over Japan, not through our own power)
Acknowledge our independence
It was possible because the international organization called the United Nations helped the birth of an independent country.
The provisional government did not lead to the government of the Republic of Korea as it was.
The independence fighters who are the source of the Liberation Association
Preserving the spirit of independence with great sacrifice
The idea that we can never remain a Japanese province
It is to receive gratitude and admiration for its merits that have made it known all over the world.
It’s not because they set up a provisional government.
Because we were unable to liberate ourselves from Japan and achieve independence on our own,
We were forced to endure the unprecedented national tragedy of division, but
Who in our country would have wished for that?
Chairman Lee Jong-chan and I,
“Our wish is independence” “Children of the new country… This is the generation that grew up singing nursery rhymes.
It is not the birth of the Provisional Government, which is difficult to understand even when we fly.
August 15, 1948 should be celebrated as a national holiday
From then on, we
Become the owner of the country as a citizen of an independent country
the right to lead a life according to the laws of one’s own making
Except for a few communist countries that were under the de facto rule of the Soviet Union through the organization of the Communist Party,
This is because it has been recognized by more than 50 countries around the world.
Rather than cutting the country in half
There were some who thought that the whole was communized,
They eventually became traitors to the Republic of Korea.
The opposite happens north of the 38th parallel.
An elderly patriot like Cho Man-shik died for his country,
That we are crying out for unity
It did not change the international political situation at the beginning of the Cold War.
As the collapse of the Soviet Union showed
Even now, when the world communist system has declared itself bankrupt,
Even those who still believe that Korea should never have been born
You may have such rebellious thoughts,
Because the Republic of Korea became independent as a new liberal democratic republic on August 15, 1948.
In contrast to North Korea, it was possible to achieve remarkable development.
Historical facts cannot be changed.
Because the birthday of the Republic of Korea is celebrated on August 15, 1948, not 1919.
It is not that the honor of independence activists or liberation members is damaged.
Rather, it will be the other way around.
Thanks to the persistent efforts and sacrifices of all walks of life at home and abroad for independence,
The spirit of independence was maintained even during the long period of colonial rule of 36 years.
That is why independence is possible.
Their struggle was even greater than before the establishment of the Provisional Government in 1919.
It’s because it continued for a long time after that, and that desperately.
■ Independence Day, Liberation Day, National Foundation Day
third.
I will tell you about the content and name of the national holiday.
National Day is a day to commemorate a day that people will never forget and must never forget in their minds.
At the time of the establishment of the Republic of Korea, there were four national holidays: △Section 3.1 △Constitution Day △Liberation Day △National Foundation Day.
Even before the concept of state or independence was invented,
Because we believe that our nation has formed and lived for a very long time
National Foundation Day, a highly symbolic national holiday, was enacted.
The historical significance of Section 3.1 and Constitution Day was self-explanatory.
Only Liberation Day has emerged as a subject of controversy since the founding of the Republic of Korea until now.
It is because of the double or even triple meaning of the word “Liberation”.
The thrill and joy brought by liberation in 1945
In fact, it was more thrilling than the birth of the Republic of Korea.
For many, Japan’s defeat was unexpected.
No one had yet known that the division of the country along the 38th parallel would follow.
Because he believed that liberation was independence, that is, liberation.
Liberation on August 15, 1945 was joy itself.
Syngman Rhee, Founding President of the Republic of Korea
The ultimate meaning of liberation is not liberation, but the restoration of national rights, that is, the establishment of an independent state.
Because I know the thrill of liberation well
The proclamation of the establishment of the government, the final stage of the establishment of the Republic of Korea,
In order to coincide with the 8.15 Liberation Day, work hastened.
And he wanted to call August 15, 1948, Independence Day.
However, due to the fact that the name is different from national holidays ending in “jeol,” such as △Three Days of the Independence Day △National Foundation Day.
△ It was renamed as Liberation Day.
Therefore, Liberation Day is a day to celebrate both liberation and the birth of the Republic of Korea, a free and democratic republic.
Strictly speaking, August 15 this year is “Liberation Day, commemorating the 78th anniversary of liberation and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Korea.”
This issue started to get complicated
It was because of the double meaning of the word Liberation Day.
Until the 6.25 War
Liberation Day was, of course, achieved through Korea’s independence.
1948 was counted as the anniversary year and commemorated.
For example, in 1949, it was celebrated as the 1st Liberation Day or the 1st Independence Day.
However, after the 6.25 War, perhaps because of carelessness,
Or, those who rejected the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948 as the persistence of division
Was it a trick on the left side?
Celebrate Liberation Day by reckoning it as 1945
By not mentioning August 15, 1948
As a result, the anniversaries celebrating the birth of the Republic of Korea, a new nation, have disappeared.
When voices of concern about him begin to emerge,
In addition, when the theory of the founding of the country suddenly emerged in 1919,
The patriotic camp realizes that the identity of the Republic of Korea is being damaged by even being deprived of its birthday.
In 1948, a movement to nail August 15th as △National Day began.
In order to count Liberation Day from 1945 rather than 1948,
There is an impure intention to deny the national identity of the Republic of Korea;
Or because they saw an extremely neglected and unacceptable indifference at work.
On the other hand, the naive common people who have become accustomed to Liberation Day
△ Feeling unfamiliar with the new name of National Foundation Day
They tend to refuse to respond.
△Is it called Liberation Day? △Is it called National Foundation Day?
The name may not be so important.
What is clear, however, is
The Republic of Korea became independent as a free democratic republic and was recognized all over the world.
On August 15, 1948, which laid the foundation for the development of today’s
Liberation Day or National Foundation Day
If not celebrated and commemorated with the greatest national holiday
The point is that national identity cannot stand straight.
On the so-called progressive left side, which insists on the theory of the founding of the country in 1919,
The United States also claims to celebrate July 4th, the day of the proclamation of the Constitution, as Independence Day, before the establishment of the United States government.
But that is just a doctrine that exposes ignorance.
At that time, the United States already had its own self-government in each state.
We were not in a position to become a people without a country like us and groan under the rule of another country’s laws.
If the Provisional Government was the establishment of a nation we should celebrate,
Why did we groan under Japanese rule, having our words and names taken away for 36 years?
Would he have had to sacrifice himself while continuing to fight for independence?
The origin of the Provisional Government was the 3.1 Movement.
△Section 3.1 is a day to commemorate and honor all forces of the independence movement, including the Provisional Government.
■ Don’t just look at ‘Liberation Day’, think about Korea
Chairman Lee Jong-chan,
I know better than anyone else that Chairman Lee Jong-chan will never become a North Korean pro-North Korea.
However, the 1919 founding theory that the president insists on is
Please understand that there is ample potential to be used by anti-Korean American forces.
For liberation to be complete
We will have to wait for the time when North Korean compatriots can live freely under a unified government with us.
In that sense, it can be seen that the third and final stage of liberation is still unfinished.
However, ignoring the second stage, the founding of the Republic of Korea,
It’s like taking things back to 1919.
In particular, confrontation and reconciliation with the North Korean regime, which denied both 1919 and 1948,
In a situation where there is still a big problem
I think it’s something you should never do.
I earnestly ask you to understand my meaning without misunderstanding, and I wish the Liberation Society great progress.
▲ Chairman Lee Jong-chan lays a wreath at the 74th anniversary of Kim Gu Baek-beom held at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu on the 26th. ⓒYonhap News
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2023-06-29 23:52:17
