Opposition lawmakers demanded that the head of South Korea's ruling party resign yesterday af-ter he admitted that his father worked for Japanese forces during their 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula, but the party leader declined to quit.
The revelation came after President Roh Moo-hyun called for an investigation into Koreans who collaborated with Japan, which ruled from 1910 until its World War II defeat in 1945.
Shin Ki-nam, chairman of the ruling Uri party, confirmed a news report this week that his father worked as a military police officer for the Japanese army. He told MBC radio yesterday that he has no immediate plans to step down, but would consult with party members and get a sense of public opinion.
``We're not at the stage to talk about my plans for my job,'' he said. Earlier Tuesday, the union-supported Democratic Labor Party demanded Shin resign.
The rightist opposition Grand National Party has condemned Roh's plans to investigate collaborators as a political ploy aimed at its chairwoman, Park Geun-hye, whose father was an officer in the Japanese army and was one of the nation's former dictators.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
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