The ruling party submitted a petition to the National Assembly on Monday, demanding disciplinary measures against a young opposition lawmaker who recently made insulting remarks against a renowned war veteran.

“Rep. Kim Kwang-jin defamed the Korean War veterans,” said the ruling Saenuri Party’s vice floor leader Rep. Kim Myung-yeon, in a joint statement with 21 fellow lawmakers.

Kim, a first-term lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic United Party, triggered the dispute earlier this month during the audit of the defense ministry when he referred to Paik Sun-yup, general and war veteran, as a “traitor to the people” for his past allegiance to the Japanese colonial regime.

Amid escalating feuds, Rep. Kim resigned from his staff post in the presidential election camp of the party candidate Moon Jae-in, but refused to retract his remarks.

“It is my unyielding stance that (Paik) was a pro-Japanese traitor to the (Korean) people,” he said in a radio interview on Monday, citing a special act which listed Paik as one of the 1,005 pro-Japanese figures.

“I have never denied Paik’s contribution in the Korean War, but merits and demerits must be differentiated.”

The 31-year-old proportional representative also faced the backlash of the conservative camp for a past Twitter posting, in which he said that his new year’s wish was the sudden death of President Lee Myung-bak.

“The comment was made before I joined the parliament and should be taken as a political humor, especially considering the satirical nature of Twitter,” he said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)