Controversy over Religious Remarks from New PM Nominee

After Ahn Dae-hee stepped down from his nomination for the Prime Minister, Moon Chang-geuk was nominated by the Park administration. Controversy sparked again as the new nominee’s controversial past remarks at a church were revealed. New Daily published the entire script of his speech in 2011. The following video contains his full-length speech at the church in 2011.

Article from Yonhap News:

Controversy surrounding Moon Chang-geuk’s remark “Colonial rule and division of Korea…God’s will”

On the 11th, a controversial video was revealed where Prime Minister nominee Moon Chang-geuk said the Japanese colonial rule and division of Korea were due to God’s will and disparaged Korean people.

According to the reports from KBS, Moon made such remarks in a special speech at the Onnuri church in Seoul where he is an elder. When this was confirmed, a controversy over his view of history as a Prime Minister was provoked.

In his speech in 2011, Moon justified the colonial rule by saying, “We may inwardly protest and ask why God made our country colonized by Japan. As I said in the beginning, there was God’s will: Your Yi Dynasty wasted 500 years. You need to face trials.”

In the same speech, Moon also said, “He divided Korea. In retrospect, I think it was also God’s will. if Korea had been given complete independence, we would’ve become all communist if you consider our conditions at that time.”

In another speech next year, Moon defined the Jeju 4.3 Democratization Uprising as a series of ‘riots’. He said, “There was this incident called Jeju 4.3 riots. Communists staged a rebellion there.”

About the Japanese colonial rule, he said, “We were able to develop economy as technologies were transferred from Japan. Japan is gradually going downhill now compared to us. Then God is turning Japan’s geopolitics into blessed geopolitics.”

He added, “As I said before, Joseon people were characterized by laziness. Laziness and dependence were remaining in our people’s DNA.”

About the liberation, he said, “One day God suddenly gave us liberation. We were liberated for free because America defeated Japan.”

About Yoon Chi-ho who turned from an independence activist to a pro-Japanese collaborator, he said, “His didn’t betray his faith until the end. Although he was a collaborator, he died with Christianity in himself at the end. He was someone who wrote his diary in English back in 1891 and 1892. We should all go die. We should all die…”

Comments from Naver:

omuo****:

I’m shocked to know that he had such thoughts.

ksw9****:

I want to crucify him with God’s will. What did the government even think when they nominated this kind of person for the Prime Minister?;;

inve****:

You are not the right one, either…

s1ht****:

Wah, this is really shocking.. I feel betrayed.

dnff****:

OUT with Park Geun-hye.

awad****:

It was also God’s will that the video was revealed to show that a shitty person like you should not be the Prime Minister. *^^*

shun****:

This bastard should never ever become the Prime Minister. Ahn Dae-hee was better.

mini****:

Farewell. Bye. Zaijian.

utyu****:

It seems anyone can become the Prime Minister.

na_r****:

Hah, what has the world come to…….

Article from Yonhap News:

Moon Chang-geuk, “What do I need to apologize for….” to ‘God’s will’ speech controversy

moon-chang-geuk-2

On the 12th, Prime Minister Nominee Moon Chang-geuk said he has no plan to apologize for the controversy about his remarks that allegedly claimed the Japanese colonial rule and division of Korea were due to God’s will and disparaged Korean people in 2011 and 2012.

[…]

Comments from Naver:

psue****:

What’s new about this? There are so many uncivilized citizens who would vote for these people even if they would sell out the nation. He also said Japan doesn’t need to apologize for comfort women. No wonder because high-ranking positions are occupied by pro-Japanese conservative idiots, tsk tsk tsk. This country is going under because of these idiots.

최명균:

There are things you just should not say. God’s will? I’m at a loss for words. He’s in a position to work for the people but how dare he brings religion into politics, tsk tsk…

fxbr****:

Our country is so easy for guys like him to exploit.

alsk****:

Sure, it’s cool. You don’t have to apologize. Just resign.

hmed****:

There would be no way around to get away with it… From the moment he mentioned God’s will, he was disqualified.

kull****:

There is also no hope for those Christians who kept quiet like fools with no refutation when he disparaged the people and brought up colonialism. The horror of brainwashing.

konv****:

He’s just like Yoon Chang-jung. Fucking shameless and evil… If he was born during the colonial period, he would’ve been a pro-Japanese collaborator and sucked up to his majesty emperor to get far in his career.

pcsa****:

He would also say the Sewol tragedy was also due to God’s will… Ke, this is not just a matter of his talents. It is about his humanity.

chj2****:

I thought it was regrettable that Ahn Dae-hee resigned..but this person is just no.

pcpa****:

It is about time the true conservatives to voice out. If this kind of traitor is called a conservative figure, the entire conservatives might be misunderstood as pro-Jap sellouts. We should drive out pseudo-conservatives such as fake conservatives, idiotic conservatives, traitorous conservatives, perverted conservatives, etc. and create a society that true conservatives lead. For your info, Ilbe, far-rightist oldies, Korea Parent Federation, Gichun Daewongun and his ilks are politically nothing but human trash. If you even try to argue with them, you become the same trash.

From Ilbe:

[This is the fact] For KBS, I show the script of Moon Chang-geuk’s speech

In fact, He didn’t disparage Korean people as KBS claimed. He ruthlessly criticized Joseon’s yangbans [ruling class] and intellectuals who exploited commoners. Take a look at this script of his speech.

Moon’s speech: I pondered about this topic. What has happened to our country? In retrospect, I could confirm that every moment of hardships was clearly due to God’s will. Hardships to our people were intended by God. He gave us hardships to make us stronger. He also opened new ways for us after every hardship. Every time, at every crucial moment. Why? Because he wanted to use our people and country for his purpose. Our nation has faced trials and challenges at every turn, which resulted in new opportunities. This country has come this far with those opportunities. […] We may inwardly protest and ask why God made our country colonized by Japan. As I said in the beginning, there was God’s will. “Your Yi Dynasty wasted 500 years. You need to face trials.”

Moon’s speech: […] Dr. Frank William Schofield [Revered Canadian missionary and veterinarian who was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation and enshrined in the Korean National Cemetery] was a missionary in Korea during the colonial period. He said God made Joseon people choose between their nation and their long fingernails. Maybe yangbans kept their fingernails long like Qing people. Then, Joseon people chose long fingernails over their country. Yangbans were very lazy. There was this person named Min Hyeong-ik. He was a relative of Queen Min. He was a high-ranking official. Yangbans like him didn’t do any work. They thought it was shameful to do any work as yangbans. Then what did they do? They read books while smoking. Thus Joseon people were characterized by laziness. That laziness was shattered by introduction of Christianity. That was what we Christians did. Many rich Koreans went to Japan to study at that time. Even when they went to Japan, they did no work because of their bad habit. Let me read this for you about what Joseon intellectuals were like. Yoon Chi-ho said in his diary that 90% of students from Joseon majored in sociology, philosophy and politics. He said socialism would be ideal for their lazy tongues. To revive their country at that time, shouldn’t they have studied something like engineering or medicine? Nobody was studying science. They just wanted to move their tongue and bum around after majoring in the humanities. That’s what Joseon elites were like. You know President Yoon Bo-seon, right? He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in the UK. He studied literature. His house had 100 rooms in Anguk-dong. With his wealth, he went to the UK to study literature. He spent 800 pounds including the tuition and living expenses for each semester, which was probably equivalent of 100 bags of rice. Yoon Chi-ho lamented that he spent big sums of money to go study literature all the way in the UK when they desperately needed something practical to strengthen the nation. There is a letter he wrote to criticize him. Intellectuals in our country were like that. Joseon students didn’t want to work and only wanted to do things verbally. Laziness and dependence were remaining in our people’s DNA. […]

Comments from Ilbe:
삼류병신글재이:

Didn’t you notice it during the last local elections? No unfavorable fact about Park Won-soon was accepted by them. No matter what, Moon is already a traitor to them. Lefty zombies know that once they throw a bait, that is the end of it.

수면의과학:

It is true that KBS reported on this sensationally but even if you see the whole context, this person seems out of his mind. Too much of a Christian fanatic. It sounds crazy when he goes on about God’s will.

국가를爲하여:

The KBS report alone is enough to get it. He did say problematic things. He gave ammunition to lefty zombie bastards. Saying it was all God’s Will is a remark that can be bashed by not only the left but also the right.

불가능은없다:

Fuck, no news outlet ever put a focus on that Park Won-soon appointed Im Jong-seok as Seoul’s deputy mayor. Im sent comrade Lim Su-kyung to North Korea and was imprisoned for violating the National Security Act. And he is Seoul’s deputy mayor now…

숭배재미웃흥:

Since he was preaching at a church, he might have said it from a Christian point of view. So I will just overlook the part where he goes on about God’s will. I couldn’t find the full video but according to the script, he was bashing the Joseon elites’ laziness.

보빨킹:

Did you guys realize how they can destroy one person within 5 minutes? While they go on about bureaucratic mafia and what not, the biggest gangster organization is the media workers’ unions.

자유주의사상가:

It’s fucking extremely disgusting that such a religiously biased person is a high-ranking official. It was also fucking extremely disgusting when Lee Myung-bak said he dedicated the city of Seoul to God at a church.

민주주의과잉시대:

It you are a true leftist, you should rather welcome his remarks. He ruthlessly criticized Joseon’s incompetent ruling class who sucked the blood out of commoners. But it is impossible because Korean leftists are lefty commies.

북극곰찌개:

KBS has gone crazy. They are not different from propagandists. And why did they stop their strike right after the June 4 local elections?

포병물량러쉬:

They can cherry-pick what suits their political agenda and broadcast manipulated reports without any fear for backlash. They can brush off citizens as worthless pushovers because most people are easily deceived by propaganda and don’t even try to look for relevant information by themselves. The web portals that deliver news are also on their side. Pussified Saenuri’s counterstrike is half-assed and the rightists aren’t fierce. In other words, they think people are fucking idiots and don’t feel any slight pang of conscience. They have nothing to fear when they air intentionally manipulated reports. They certainly knew the whole context but blatantly distorted it for their political agenda.

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