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General Douglas MacArthur (second from right) and other U.S. military leaders come ashore on the beaches of Incheon during the Incheon Landing on Sept. 16, 1950, which marked a turning point in the Korean War.
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Violent clashes over a statue of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur in Incheon¡¯s Freedom Park on Sunday have awakened politicians to the issue, with Choeng WaDae calling a meeting on Monday to discuss a response.
The meeting chaired by presidential Chief of Staff Lee Byung-wan expressed concern that calls to take down the statue have turned violent. "An illegal attempt to pull the statue down would not only be of no help to the Korea-U.S. relationship, but would run counter to a mature historical understanding in our society,¡± spokesman Choi In-ho said. ¡°President Roh Moo-hyun recently said the statue must not be pulled down, and to do so would not reflect the wisdom needed to live in the modern world.¡±
Ruling party lawmakers were split. Uri Party standing committee member Chang Young-dal told a meeting of legislators the people calling for the removal of the statue revealed a ¡°deep ethnic purity" and warned the party to watch out for "ultra-rightists" latching on to the statue issue to band together and ratchet up tensions. But Rep. Han Kwang-won, whose constituency includes Freedom Park, said, "The statue was erected with donations from Incheon residents... If you are truly progressive, you must think about why MacArthur is a hero in the hearts of your elders and why he's become a symbol of Incheon."
The Grand National Party has called on the government to take firm measures, which the party¡¯s chairwoman Park Geun-hye said were needed against ¡°acts shaking the Korea-U.S. alliance." GNP floor leader Kang Jae-seop said the movement "destroyed the basic principles of the nation." Incheon mayor Ahn Sang-soo told a press conference pulling the statue down or moving it elsewhere would not help the interests of the city or the nation. He also urged "outsiders" to stop making trouble in his city.
A spokesman for the minor opposition Millennium Democratic Party, Yoo Jong-pil, said, "Since MacArthur is a symbolic figure who protected liberal democracy in Korea, it is not desirable for a minority to translate their arbitrary historical interpretations into action."
But the Democratic Labor Party took a positive view of calls to remove the statue. DLP spokesman Kim Bae-gon said, "Opinion isn¡¯t good, but this is an opportunity for a cold evaluation of MacArthur." Yet even within the National Liberation faction of the DLP, who are in favor of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Korea, many said pulling down the statue was going too far.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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