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Civil Organizations Make a Statement

On November 5, civil organization members removed a statue of former President Jung Hee Park erected at a certain park in Seoul. The police took drastic measures by keeping the concerned persons in custody. In addition, some politicians insisted that they receive a strong punishment stating, "Removing a statue of President Park is an undeniable violation of the law." In reaction to this, however, many civil organizations responded in turn: "The reason this action occurred was that President Dae-jung Kim intends to establish a Memorial Hall of Jung Hee Park as a political maneuver, intending to demand the public to pay an enormous tax of twenty million dollars. The Government is defying public opinion and unreasonably moving forward with plans to establish a Memorial Hall. That is a nonsense." Former president Park had Korea under his despotic rule for twenty years, violated human rights to an unspeakable level, and was assassinated by his subordinate in 1979. [Chang Jo Lee]