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Park’s nominee in hot water… again

June 12, 2014

Prime Minister nominee Moon Chang-keuk, middle, is going through a lot of questions right now. (Yonhap)

By Kang Seung-woo

The latest prime minister nominee Moon Chang-keuk is at the risk of losing his status over videos of his church sermons, which could be read as an act of belittling Korea and sympathizing with Japan’s colonial rule.

In one of the videos shown on KBS Wednesday, he testified that Japan’s 1910-45 colonization was the will of God.

“Why did God put Korea under Japanese colonial rule? As I said before, it is God’s will behind the colonization,” said Moon, an elder of the Onnuri Community Church in Seoul. The tape dates back to 2011.

“Looking back on it now, the division of the Korean Peninsula is also God’s will. Considering our situation then, we would have been communized, if we had been an independent nation,” he said.

Also, in another sermon, he described the 1948 Jeju Uprising as a rebellion, saying communists caused a revolt there.

According to historians, tens of thousands of people on Jeju were killed or injured and three-quarters of the island’s villages destroyed during clashes.

In 2003, then President Roh Moo-hyun apologized to the victims and promised to restore their honor, though conservative South Koreans still view the incident as a rebellion.

Moon said Koreans were lazy and dependent, surmising this dates back to the Joseon Kingdom and remained ingrained in their DNA.

He praised independence fighter-turned-pro Japanese collaborator Yun Chi-ho for his strong support of Christianity.

Interestingly enough, newspapers have been poles apart in their coverage of Moon’s controversial comments.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun and Hankyoreh, two leftist papers, heaped pages of criticism upon him, questioning his eligibility as the No. 2 man in the government.

Three major conservative newspapers — the Chosun, DongA and JoongAng Ilbo — minimized their coverage.

Moon worked for JoongAng.

He expressed regret for the sermons Thursday, changing his stance that he had “nothing to apologize for over his comments” hours earlier.

“I delivered sermons as a religious person in a church, so they might be a far cry from general sentiment, and I am sorry that they were seen as misleading,” the nominee said in a statement, released by the Prime Minister’s Office.

“If I am confirmed at the National Assembly, I will manage state affairs in a balanced and fair way. I will show my intention and plans at the parliamentary hearing.”