Ex-PPP Rep. Ihn Yo-han's election as Korean Red Cross chief draws fire over past support for martial law

The election of former People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Ihn Yo-han as chief of the Korean Red Cross has triggered growing political backlash after his past comments defending the Dec. 3 martial law declaration resurfaced.

Ihn is a medical doctor and naturalized Korean who is also known by his English name John Linton.

He forayed into politics, serving as a member of the 22nd National Assembly and holding senior roles in the main opposition conservative PPP, including innovation committee chairman and supreme council member during the now-impeached Yoon Suk Yeol presidency. 

Ihn resigned from the National Assembly in December of last year, with more than two years remaining in his term. On Monday, it was announced that he was elected as the 32nd chief of the Korean Red Cross by the organization's central committee. Ihn now awaits the endorsement from President Lee Jae Myung, who is the honorary president of the Korean Red Cross, before officially taking up the three-year post.

That scrutiny has only intensified as his final approval approaches.

At issue now is his remark following Yoon's martial law declaration that he "understood former President Yoon from the heart." In a televised interview in February last year, Ihn defended the martial law declaration, saying the ruling Democratic Party (DP) "didn't compromise on a single thing and played politics worse than Chun Doo Hwan," referring to Korea's authoritarian president in the 1980s.

In an October radio appearance, he said: "Americans wonder why former President Yoon is being detained" and "Former President Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee should stay home if necessary." Two months later, he resigned from parliament, saying, "Political behavior that follows only factional logic becomes an obstacle to national development."

Ihn also joined a PPP walkout during the National Assembly vote on Yoon's impeachment, a move that drew fierce criticism in his hometown of Suncheon, South Jeolla. South Jeolla's DP officials collectively said at the time that his action "makes being from Suncheon a source of shame and disgrace."

"Ihn should have publicly apologized for defending and leading the insurrection forces," Rep. Park Ji-won said Thursday. 

“I’m puzzled, considering that this is someone who acted irresponsibly," Park Yong-jin, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Regulatory Reform, said on the same day. 

Criticism also came from within Ihn's former party. Han Zee-a, a PPP lawmaker and fellow doctor, held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday, calling it a "hypocritical appointment by the Lee Jae Myung administration" and asking, "Is this what the Lee Jae Myung government calls settling the insurrection and pragmatism?"

She continued, "The path Ihn has walked and the choices he has made are too political to practice pure humanitarianism. He should resign from the Red Cross chairmanship, or at the very least offer a clear public apology."

Ihn responded to the controversies on Wednesday. "I regret and reflect on the fact that I did not step up more actively at the time of the martial law declaration," he said on YTN Radio. "I was so distressed by that martial law, I wanted to cry, it was truly painful — and I wish people understood that. Rather than that, I want to be asked what I am going to do in the future."

Speaking about his Red Cross election, he said: "This is truly big-hearted politics, inclusive politics, unifying politics."

But opposition is snowballing, outside political circles as well.

"When you look at the timing of his resignation along with everything else, it is hard to shake the suspicion that he stepped down with the chairmanship in mind," Kang Hyeon-geun, chairman of the Korean Red Cross branch of the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, said on MBC Radio on Thursday. "His past actions feel less like genuine reflection and more like a face-saving formality."

The union has also issued a statement opposing Ihn's election to the Korean Red Cross. 

Founded in 1905, the Korean Red Cross is the country's largest humanitarian organization, operating blood donation centers, disaster relief programs and social welfare services nationwide.

BY KANG BO-HYUN [[email protected]]