Military hit for politicized lectures on pro-NK groups

A lawmaker criticized the military Wednesday for allowing “biased” lecturers to teach soldiers about “Pro-North Korean forces in the South,” claiming they made inappropriate remarks about liberal presidential candidates.

Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) claimed that the military had increased such training sessions ahead of presidential polls in December. Some guest lecturers, he said, were using the opportunity to influence soldiers against the DUP’s presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, as well as independent Ahn Cheol-soo.

Rep. Ahn single out Kim Seong-wook, head of a conservative activist group, as an example. According to Ahn, Kim said in a 2007 book, “Roh Moo-hyun’s Rebellion” that the late liberal President was “the main enemy of Korea.”

Kim, through social media, has issued allegations such as “Moon sets himself up as pro-North Korean president,” and “pro-North Korean groups eulogize (candidate) Ahn,” the lawmaker said.

Kim delivered 30 of the total 155 lectures on the topic held between January and June in addition to five last year. In the two previous years, he was the only lecturer, Ahn said.

The lawmaker also claimed that Yoo Dong-yeol, a senior researcher at the Police Science Institute who has lectured on the subject over a dozen times in the past two years, was making biased remarks.

“Although he is a government employee, Yoo didn’t hesitate to make remarks that harm political neutrality,” Ahn said.

Yoo has said that Roh and his liberal predecessor, the late Kim Dae-jung, created “negative images” of the nation and that “a person from anti-state activity groups should not be president or prime minister.”

Ahn claimed that the guest speakers mostly belong to politically conservative groups such as the Council of Future Education for National Development.

He raised suspicions that the military was increasing the lectures ahead of elections, saying that between 2008 and 2010, there had been only one lecture, but since then 176 had been held. The nation will head to the polls on Dec. 19.

“The sharp boost of the education on the pro-North Korean forces is surely related to political circumstances such as elections,” he said.

Under the National Security Law, used to investigate those who “praise, disseminate or cooperate with anti-state groups,” it is illegal here to practice communism or recognize North Korea as a political entity.

Criticism of Pyongyang sympathizers rose sharply this year after some lawmakers of the minor opposition United Progressive Party were said to have espoused a pro-North stance. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>

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