Kim Won-woong, head of the Heritage of Korean Independence, said American and Soviet troops which entered the Korean Peninsula after Korea’s independence, were occupation and liberation forces, respectively.

When Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, the Korean Peninsula, a Japanese colony (1910-1945), was split into two zones of occupation -- the US-controlled South Korea and the Soviet-controlled North Korea.

Kim made the remarks to that effect in a video message to students of a high school in Gyeonggi Province on May 21.

Kim said that the Soviet military issued a proclamation that congratulated Korea’s independence. However, he said that when the US troops entered the South, Gen. MacArthur wrote a proclamation that they were not a liberation army but an occupation army.

His glorification of the Soviet occupation is not much different from North Korea’s distorted version of history.

Testimonies and historical documents demonstrate Soviet troops’ atrocities on Koreans, such as lootings and sexual assaults, during their occupation of the North.

In South Korea under the US military government, however, the kind of savagery seen in North Korea was not reported. Kim’s remark that McArthur proclaimed that US troops were occupation forces, not liberation forces was not correct. The proclamation just reads that the US military forces will occupy the territory of Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude. Kim distorted facts to give an impression that the US tried to rule South Korea by force. He defined the Soviet occupation as good but the US one as evil.

As Kim said, the Soviet military proclaimed that the fate of North Korea is up to what its people will do, but the Soviets did not keep that promise.

They set up a puppet communist government, which invaded the South, starting the Korean War on June 25, 1950, on the back of Joseph Stalin’s approval and assistance. North Korea calls it a fatherland liberation war. The Soviet occupation of North Korea was the seed of tragedy for the Korean people. It was far from liberation.

Kim’s remarks are an insult to those who sacrificed their lives to fight for Korea’s independence and protect South Korea from the North Korean invasion. Preaching a distorted pro-North Korean history to high school students is a serious problem. If the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education overlooked it, that is more concerning.

This is not the first time Kim made controversial remarks.

In a guest lecture in August 2020, he said, “Korea was divided by the US and the Korean War broke out because of that division. The US effectively caused the war. The US and South Korea are not allies.”

In a special lecture in February, he said that strengthening the US alliance means that South Korea should become an underling and colony of the US. He advocated North Korea’s nuclear weapons, too. Referring to the North, he said that a country without self-defense capabilities cannot survive.

Kim established various awards in the names of independence fighters and awarded them to former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and other figures close to President Moon Jae-in. He condemned the main conservative opposition party for being pro-Japanese. He called opposition party figures “indigenous Japanese.”

Ironically, however, he worked for the Democratic Republican Party, a conservative ruling party under the control of President Park Chung-hee, and later held important posts in the Democratic Justice Party founded by former President Chun Doo-hwan. The Moon regime has branded both Park and Chun as dictators. He justifies his past by saying that he couldn’t help it “because he had to earn a living.” It is questionable if he still makes remarks palatable to the current regime just for a living.

The Heritage of Korean Independence is a group of independence fighters and their descendants. It signifies the legitimacy of South Korea.

A figure who denies the nation’s legitimacy and preaches pro-North Korean views is unqualified to lead it.