ID :
38654
Sat, 01/03/2009 - 14:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/38654
The shortlink copeid
U.S. envoy tours museum honoring Korean nationalist leader amid history row
(ATTN: RECASTS lead, headline; RESTRUCTURES; TRIMS; ADDS comments)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. envoy in Seoul toured a local museum
Saturday that honors an ill-fated Korean nationalist leader and former
independence fighter whose government-in-exile was recently disputed in an
official South Korean booklet.
The visit by U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens to the Kim Koo Museum and Library
came at a sensitive time as a leading group of former independence fighters here
threatened to relinquish medals awarded by the government in protest of a booklet
that disputes the legitimacy of their regime-in-exile formed during the Japanese
colonial period.
The publication, released in October, describes the 1919-1948 provisional
government as lacking the qualities of an authentic political body but
accentuates the legitimacy of its successor elected exclusively in the South
under U.S. military occupation. The culture minister has expressed regret over
the row and pledged to make revisions, but the group remains up in arms.
"I know there's much to learn here. So that's how I came to visit today,
something I've been waiting to do almost two years," Stephens told reporters
before beginning her one-and-a-half-hour tour.
Stephens, who speaks fluent Korean and has an extensive academic background in
Asian history, said she has long wished to visit the museum since meeting with
Kim Koo's family in 2007 and reading his translated autobiography.
Kim, in whose honor the museum is dedicated, was the last president of the
government-in-exile and campaigned to bridge the chasm between Soviet-backed
Pyongyang and U.S.-sponsored Seoul after Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945.
He was assassinated by a right-wing South Korean officer just a year before the
1950-53 Korean War broke out, decisively splitting the peninsula.
Embassy officials brushed aside speculations that Stephens' visit was related to
the debate surrounding the booklet, released by the conservative Seoul
government, which has been at odds with former independence fighters since
assuming office early last year.
Stephens made headlines when she took office here in October, having taught
English in South Korea as a Peace Corps volunteer more than three decades ago.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- The top U.S. envoy in Seoul toured a local museum
Saturday that honors an ill-fated Korean nationalist leader and former
independence fighter whose government-in-exile was recently disputed in an
official South Korean booklet.
The visit by U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens to the Kim Koo Museum and Library
came at a sensitive time as a leading group of former independence fighters here
threatened to relinquish medals awarded by the government in protest of a booklet
that disputes the legitimacy of their regime-in-exile formed during the Japanese
colonial period.
The publication, released in October, describes the 1919-1948 provisional
government as lacking the qualities of an authentic political body but
accentuates the legitimacy of its successor elected exclusively in the South
under U.S. military occupation. The culture minister has expressed regret over
the row and pledged to make revisions, but the group remains up in arms.
"I know there's much to learn here. So that's how I came to visit today,
something I've been waiting to do almost two years," Stephens told reporters
before beginning her one-and-a-half-hour tour.
Stephens, who speaks fluent Korean and has an extensive academic background in
Asian history, said she has long wished to visit the museum since meeting with
Kim Koo's family in 2007 and reading his translated autobiography.
Kim, in whose honor the museum is dedicated, was the last president of the
government-in-exile and campaigned to bridge the chasm between Soviet-backed
Pyongyang and U.S.-sponsored Seoul after Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945.
He was assassinated by a right-wing South Korean officer just a year before the
1950-53 Korean War broke out, decisively splitting the peninsula.
Embassy officials brushed aside speculations that Stephens' visit was related to
the debate surrounding the booklet, released by the conservative Seoul
government, which has been at odds with former independence fighters since
assuming office early last year.
Stephens made headlines when she took office here in October, having taught
English in South Korea as a Peace Corps volunteer more than three decades ago.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
