hankyoreh

Progressive candidates for president spent the day of the 20th anniversary of the start of the June Struggle at commemorative events and observations, while candidates running for nomination by the conservative Grand National Party stayed largely out of the public eye, attending to personal schedules.

Former Uri Party chairmen Chung Dong-young and Kim Keun-tae, former prime minister Han Myeong-sook, National Assembly member Chun Jung-bae, and former Gyeonggi province governor Sohn Hak-hyu - all considered possibilities as progressive presidential candidates - were seen at the official state commemoration of the democracy campaign of June 1987. Each also made appearances at the twentieth memorial observances of the death of Lee Han-yeol, killed in 1987 after a fiberglass tear gas canister fired by police struck the Yonsei University student’s head, was held in Seoul City Hall Plaza.

In comments to reporters, they stressed the need to continue the spirit of the June Struggle through national unity and - naturally - by having a progressive candidate win this year’s presidential election.

Won Hee-ryong and Go Jin-hwa, both former student activists, were the only presidential hopefuls from the conservative opposition Grand National Party to attend the state-sponsored event. However, they are not the favorites for their party’s nomination.

Former Seoul mayor and likely GNP nominee Lee Myung-bak said he did not attend because he does not currently hold public office and therefore was not invited.

Park Geun-hye, currently second in the polls for GNP nominee, chose not to attend for personal reasons. Her spokesperson issued a statement, saying that it is "time to carry out regional reconciliation, ideological reconciliation, and generational reconciliation" on the occasion of the anniversary of the June Struggle. The statement said Park promises to "make Korea a developed nation in five years amidst this kind of national reconciliation." Hong Jun-pyo, a powerful figure in the GNP but an unlikely choice for nominee, was also absent, citing personal reasons.

Noting that this year is the first time there was an official state event to observe the anniversary, GNP member Go Jin-hwa said it "would have been nice if GNP candidates had postponed their personal schedules and attended."


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