Democrats ask: If Lee Jin-sook follows Chun Doo-hwan, why is “female Chun Doo-hwan” an insult?

South Korea’s Democratic Party has challenged Lee Jin-sook’s decision to file another insult complaint over the phrase “female Chun Doo-hwan.” Its response was blunt: if Lee follows Chun Doo-hwan’s historical views, the comparison should not be considered an insult.

Lee, a People Power Party lawmaker, announced the additional complaint on Sept. 6 while appearing at Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo Police Station for questioning over Kim Min-seok’s earlier description of her as “female Hitler.” She said comparing her to Chun, who received a final conviction for insurrection, was an insulting and defamatory statement.

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He warmly received Chun Doo-hwan’s chief of staff, Huh Hwa-pyong, and follows Chun Doo-hwan’s view of history. How can ‘female Chun Doo-hwan’ be an insult? Isn’t it a compliment?

Kim used both labels after Lee hosted a parliamentary forum on Aug. 13 that the Democratic Party said belittled the May 18 Democratization Movement. At a party rally two days later, Kim said he would prevent both “female Chun Doo-hwan” and “female Hitler” from gaining a foothold in South Korea. After Lee complained over “female Hitler,” Kim said she had not objected to “female Chun Doo-hwan” and suggested using that name consistently.

Democratic Party spokesperson Park Sung-joon said Lee should submit a resignation letter rather than another complaint. “She warmly received Chun Doo-hwan’s chief of staff, Huh Hwa-pyong, and follows Chun Doo-hwan’s view of history. How can ‘female Chun Doo-hwan’ be an insult? Isn’t it a compliment?” he said.

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Kim Min-seok said that Chun Doo-hwan had received a final conviction as an insurrectionist, yet he said he would call me ‘female Chun Doo-hwan.’ This is clearly an insulting and defamatory statement against me.

Huh, who played a central role in the Dec. 12 coup as Chun’s chief of staff at the Army Security Command in 1979, attended Lee’s forum and was photographed beside her. The event featured claims portraying the administrations of Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee and Chun as successive stages of nation-building, economic development and democratic transition. It also included statements describing those figures as South Korea’s legitimate historical owners and labeling leftists as illegitimate descendants.

Park said Lee should study why Chun was sentenced to death for insurrection and how many innocent citizens were killed in Gwangju. He urged her to give up her parliamentary seat and praise Chun as a private citizen if she wished.

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I will not allow either ‘female Chun Doo-hwan’ or ‘female Hitler’ to gain a foothold in South Korea.