Not a single one of 14 decorations held by pro-Japanese collaborators revoked in 10 years
The 14 medals and prizes the government awarded to 11 pro-Japanese collaborators (those who cooperated with Imperial Japan) have gone unreclaimed for more than a decade. Revoking such honors requires the government to formally take them back, a step that has not been taken even once. The facts were confirmed in documents disclosed by Rep. Lee Jae-jung of the Democratic Party of Korea, chair of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, obtained from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS).
The Presidential Truth Commission on Pro-Japanese Anti-National Activities has officially designated 1,006 collaborators, 44 of whom received government medals or prizes. A total of 78 decorations were awarded to them. Only 5 have been revoked to date, while the 73 held by the remaining 39 individuals are still in effect. Notably, all 14 decorations held by 11 collaborators recommended by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism remain unrevoked.
Those recommended by the Culture Ministry included figures from the arts and culture world, such as poet Seo Jeong-ju, painters Kim Ki-chang and Kim Eun-ho, playwright Yu Chi-jin, and sports figure Park Soon-dong. The Truth Commission officially ruled that their acts of promoting conscription and volunteer military service through their works, writings, and performances during the Japanese colonial period, or otherwise aiding colonial rule and wars of aggression, constituted pro-Japanese anti-national activities.
In March 2016, MOIS notified each ministry of the decorations held by these collaborators and requested a review of whether they should be revoked. Nevertheless, according to Rep. Lee, the Culture Ministry never sent a formal reply after receiving the notice. The delays are also rooted in legal constraints. Under the Honors Act, revocation of decorations is mainly limited to cases such as falsified records of merit, making automatic revocation difficult based solely on an official designation as a pro-Japanese collaborator.
"It is hard to accept that the Culture Ministry, despite receiving an official request from the Interior Ministry in 2016 to review whether these honors should be revoked, has not replied for 10 years," Rep. Lee pointed out. "The ministry must answer what reviews it conducted and whether it judges continued retention of these decorations to be justified." He argued that the Honors Act should be amended so that decorations can be revoked when recipients are officially designated as pro-Japanese collaborators.
