Lee, leading a session of the Uri Party's standing committee Friday, painted the GNP as assailants, saying, "Revealing the truths of history means to set mistakes right, and I wonder how assaulters could set crimes of assault right."

Uri Party chairman Lee Bu-young talks about correcting past wrongdoings in front of the party’s slogan, which reads, “Let’s go for the future,” at the press room of the party.

As Lee's comments can be seen as a virtual refusal of the GNP chairwoman's proposal, the political controversy surrounding the scope and targets of the historical truth-finding commission is likely to grow, while the status of negotiations itself is becoming unclear.

After Lee led his assault on the opposition party, even bringing up the communist activities of Park Geun-hye's father, late-President Park Chung-hee, it appears political debate over the past will change into one of mutual personal attacks and political fighting even before the discussion over how to conduct historical inquiries has begun.

Lee said in the conference, "After liberation, Park transformed himself into an independence fighter, and then a communist, and when he was caught by Kim Chang-nyong's anti-spy unit, he turned in all the people he brought over to his side. They were all killed, but he survived. During the Cold War, nobody was told of this." He added, "Does it make sense to try to kill the liquidation of our past by hiding behind the shadow of late President Park?"

Kim Deog-ryong of the GNP said, "Avoiding political dispute is the essential part of revealing the truths of history."

Nam Kyung-pil of the GNP also noted, "Former Uri Party chairman Shin Ki-nam's case already showed that there is no such thing as a unilateral victim or assaulter before history and it is a pity that they [the ruling party] still have these biased thoughts." He added, "Lee's statement made clear that Uri's plans to reveal the truths of history is targeting the GNP."

(Hwang Seong-hye, coby0729@chosun.com )