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An academic who called the Korean War "North Korea's war of unification" in an online column in July was helping police with their enquiries on Friday. The questioning of Dongguk University sociologist Kang Jeong-koo provoked simultaneous demonstrations from progressive and conservative civic groups outside the security branch of the Seoul Metropolitan Police in Jongno-gu.
The Korean Professors Union said for the police to take legal proceeding against an academic for expressing his opinion ¡°destroys the democratic order and kills academic freedom." Some 50 demonstrators who opposed legal proceedings against Kang carried pickets calling on the Roh administration to end its "witch hunt" of the scholar and arrest Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee instead.
No more than a few meters away, about 10 members of conservative groups convened a protest of their own. Demanding Kang's arrest, they chanted slogan like, "Overthrow the pro-North Korean puppets of Kim Jong-il." About 200 police formed a barrier between the opposing camps.
Before his questioning, Kang said, "Today's scene of a people split into two sides is a stepping stone in overcoming 60 years of national division." On July 27, while calling for the removal of a statue of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur from Incheon's Freedom Park, the academic said the Korean War had been a war of unification attempted by the North Korean leadership and would have ended in a month but for the intervention of the U.S.
A Seoul Metropolitan Police officer said Kang could be called again if any additional investigation became necessary. ¡°Whether we take legal action against Kang will be determined after comprehensive consideration of his activities and the context of his writing,¡± he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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