bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Campaign for truth about the past topples son of a Japanese military policeman

In a spectacular political own goal, South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun  has thrown his ruling party into disarray and triggered the resignation of  its leader.

Mr Roh's insistence that the country confront   wrongdoing  during the years of Japanese colonial and subsequent authoritarian rule resulted in the leader of the ruling Uri Party, Shin Ki-nam,  resigning yesterday after it was revealed  his father was a member of the Japanese military police during occupation.

'I am resigning because I do not want to undermine the cause of investigating the legacies of Japanese collaborators and of restoring the national spirit,' Mr Shin said, just three months after being elected.

He apologised to those who fought for Korean independence, bowing his head before journalists at a news conference  yesterday.

'In place of my father, I  seek forgiveness.

'To be honest, the recent detailed reports of my father are shocking for me, and I still find it difficult to believe everything. I plan to check  it myself,' he said.

The issue of collaboration by Koreans during Japanese occupation between 1910 and 1945 in particular, has absorbed the country for months, but it was recently given added impetus by the president's call for a commission to examine the era.

Mr Roh's determination to pursue the issue has cost him dearly, even as the country is wrestling with a host of other problems including a flagging economy, rising unemployment and the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

The Uri Party,  formed last year  by a group of the president's hardcore supporters, is expected to take a leading role in the work of the proposed commission.  But Mr Shin's resignation could cause domestic political complications for  Mr Roh by highlighting  divisions  in the  party.

Mr Shin is to be succeeded by  Lee Bu-young, who has been highly critical of him.

The president's critics claimed his determination to investigate the country's  colonial era was a political ploy designed to discredit his conservative opponents, many of whose ancestors had links to the colonial authorities.

Foremost among them is the leader of the conservative opposition Grand National Party whose father, Park Chung-hee, was an officer in the Japanese  army before going on to become South Korea's military dictator.

But the president's office  denied accusations of a politically engineered campaign and  insisted the country's failure to address past wrongdoing had allowed mistrust to fester.

Against the background of Mr Shin's resignation, the  Uri Party and the conservative opposition  have begun negotiations over the composition of a parliamentary committee to delve into the past.

In an apparent  pot shot at the president,   opposition party leader Park Geun-hye  said its remit should also cover  pro-North Korean activities.



In blow for Roh, ruling party leader quits