On the 21st, the People Power Party urged Kim Min-seok, the prime minister nominee, to apologize for referring to North Korean defectors as 'traitors.'
Choi Soo-jin, the spokesperson of the People Power Party, noted in a commentary that 'Kim nominated in his master's thesis at Tsinghua University specified the term 'defector' instead of using the expression meaning 'a person who has betrayed and fled' as 'traitor.'
The spokesperson said, 'Kim nominated in the title of his master's degree used 'escapee' meaning 'a person who fled from North Korea' instead of the commonly used 'defector,' and in his acknowledgment, wrote that he used the term 'traitor' which means 'a person who has betrayed and fled.'
He said, 'North Korean defectors are precious citizens of free Korea who risked their lives to escape from human rights oppression,' and asked, 'On whose side is Kim, who used the term 'a person who has betrayed and fled?' He must clearly state what defectors have betrayed.'
He continued, 'In the past, former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Im Soo-kyung made a statement in 2012 that 'defectors seem like turncoats,' and recently, lawmaker Choi Min-hee made derogatory remarks about defectors in a National Assembly meeting, asking lawmaker Park Chung-gwon, 'Don't you recognize the principles of democracy since you have been living in a totalitarian state?'
The spokesperson of the People Power Party stated, 'Moreover, there are growing suspicions regarding the nominee's thesis writing process, including a misidentification of his advisor's name, and despite the entry and exit records he presented for clarification, there are issues with poor attendance and confirmations that his former assistant provided substantial help during the thesis writing process.' He added, 'I hope he clearly expresses his understanding of human rights concerning the North Korean regime and its people during the prime minister's confirmation hearing.'