When Mrs. Jeong Cha-soon, the mother of martyr Park Jong-cheol, passed away on the 17th, the political world took steps to commemorate her and emphasized the need to pass the Act on Honoring People of Democratic Meritorious Service (Democratic Meritorious Persons Act).
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, met with reporters after paying his respects at the funeral hall set up at the Gangdong Sacred Heart Hospital funeral hall in Seoul on the afternoon of the 18th and said, “The death of Park Jong-cheol is a representative event that served as a catalyst for the struggle for democracy in the 1980s,” adding, “Democracy built through the sacrifices of countless people has recently become “We retreated and were in danger,” he said.
Immediately after offering his condolences, floor leader Hong Ik-pyo said, “Many people who lived in the 1980s still owe a huge debt of gratitude to him and his family. It is most disappointing that the Democratic Meritorious Persons Act, which my mother requested before she passed away, is not being processed. “If the National Assembly fails to do so, we will make efforts to have the law passed as soon as possible in the next National Assembly,” he said.
In the Green Justice Party, Green Justice Party leader Kim Jun-woo and acting floor leader Jang Hye-young visited the funeral this morning. Senior Spokesperson Kim Soo-young said in a briefing at the National Assembly Communication Center this morning, “I pray for the rest and peace of Ms. Jeong Cha-soon, who lived a life of uninterrupted struggle for the democratization of Korean society,” and added, “We urge the enactment of the Democratic Meritorious Persons Act, which she desperately wanted to achieve during her lifetime.” “I do it,” he said.
Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, visited the funeral this morning, and Yoon Hee-sook, standing representative of the Progressive Party, visited the funeral this afternoon. Lee Jun-seok, leader of the New Reform Party, Lee Joo-young, and Chun Haram, president-elect of the New Reform Party, also visited the funeral home this afternoon to pay their respects. The People Power Party paid condolences late in the afternoon to floor leader and acting party leader Jae-ok Yoon, chief spokesperson Jeong Hee-yong, and floor leader Lee In-seon, chief of staff.
The Democratic Meritorious Persons Act is a bill to recognize the 829 people who died, went missing, or were seriously injured due to state violence as democratic contributors, not as people involved in the democratization movement. The target is the dead, missing, and injured among the pro-democracy activists who were active from the 1960s to the 1990s. Martyrs Park Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol, who were sacrificed during the June Uprising in 1987, and Jeon Tae-il, who died while advocating for basic labor rights, are also included as meritorious people.
The ruling party is opposed. The reason is that it is a law that recognizes people who died or were injured while engaging in anti-government protests, illegal strikes, sit-ins, and denial of the liberal democratic system as contributors to democracy, and that it is a ‘activist preferential inheritance law’ created to allow the mainstream Democratic Party activists to enjoy their vested rights. holding a
