Anchor: Controversy is growing over the defense ministry’s consideration of a plan to relocate busts of the late independence fighter Gen. Hong Beom-do on the premises of both the defense ministry and the Korea Military Academy. Associations representing independence fighters and opposition parties are slamming the move. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: Debate is heating up over the defense ministry’s pursuit to remove a bust of late independence fighter Gen. Hong Beom-do from the Korea Military Academy.

In a statement issued on Monday, the defense ministry said installing the bust of Hong, who had affiliations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at the academy is inappropriate when considering the academy’s identity.

[Sound bite: Defense Ministry Spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu (Korean/English)]
“We’ve been examining the possible relocation since last year amid criticism that Hong had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and had taken part in related activities.”

The ministry pointed out that Hong is suspected of being involved in the 1921 Massacre of Svobodny where Russia’s Red Army killed Korean guerrillas.

The ministry is also mulling relocating Hong’s bust in front of the ministry building and to change the name of a Navy submarine named after the late general if deemed necessary.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, on its part, plans to determine whether expedient means were implemented in the process of posthumously conferring two Orders of Merit for the National Foundation to Hong.

Associations representing independence fighters and their descendants have strongly protested the defense ministry’s plan, calling it an act of crime that is both ahistorical and antidemocratic. 

Lee Jong-chan, the head of the Heritage of Korean Independence, called on defense minister Lee Jong-sup to step down in an open letter sent on Sunday, saying the minister had forsaken the democratic conscience.

Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Won-shik, who heads a foundation dedicated to remembering Hong, said removing the bust for dubious reasons would be tantamount to humiliating independence fighters. 

The presidential office is distancing itself from the controversy, saying a decision on the fate of the busts is up to the two sites.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.