(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Yullip Lee = The ruling and opposition parties fought over the future of Park Ji-hyang, chairman of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, who was appointed during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, during the National Assembly audit of the Education Committee and related organizations under the Ministry of Education held at the National Assembly on the 12th.
The Democratic Party of Korea raised issues with Chairman Park's operation of the foundation and pressured him to resign, while the People Power Party called it an unreasonable attempt to dismiss a member of the previous administration and said that Chairman Park should hold out until the end.
Representative Kim Moon-soo of the Democratic Party mentioned the content of the lecture at the Northeast Asian History Foundation's 'Wednesday Forum' held in April last year and said, "I think it is too shameless to sit there and cooperate with such a historic deception. Please resign immediately."
This pointed out that controversy had arisen that speakers at this forum run by the foundation had made biased claims regarding pro-Japanese issues.
Rep. Kim Jun-hyuk of the same party pointed out, "In the 4th session of the training for understanding current issues in Northeast Asian history, two of the three lectures were about Hwandangogi," and added, "There could definitely be a misunderstanding."
On the other hand, Rep. Seo Beom-soo of the People's Power Party said, "I think the people will judge whether it is right to make such an unreasonable attempt (to dismiss) and to keep trying to expel a person who was selected by the previous administration as someone who has a lot of hate in him."
Rep. Park Jeong-hoon of the same party said, "There may have been content in the lecture that caused misunderstanding, but I don't think it's something that would warrant suspending or dismissing the chairman from his duties," and asked Chairman Park, "Please endure until the end so that this incident can remain as a wrong precedent for the Lee Jae-myung administration."
Rep. Park also raised suspicions that the Blue House was involved in the push for Chairman Park's dismissal.
When asked by Representative Park whether he had ever heard that the Blue House was involved in the process of suspending and dismissing him from office, Chairman Park responded, "I have heard such a thing."
When asked who was involved, he trailed off, saying, "I can't reveal the source, but it was the Blue House Secretariat..."
On the other hand, Kim Young-jin, director of school policy at the Ministry of Education, answered "no" when Rep. Park asked, "Have you ever received a call from the Blue House regarding this matter?" When asked, "Have you ever received a call from the political secretary?" Director Kim denied the request by saying, "Not at all."
Meanwhile, the Education Committee, through agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, additionally adopted 'one-time instructor' Jo Jung-sik as a witness for the general inspection scheduled for the 23rd.
Mr. Cho, who is currently on trial on charges of trading college entrance exam questions, was selected as a witness for the National Assembly inspection by the Education Committee on the 7th, but did not appear after submitting a written explanation for non-appearance.
