Park Jie-won, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the government over the land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone involving the Army's 25th Division, saying, "Virtually all the evidence is being preserved, so why isn't (the government) saying so?"
Park made the remarks on the 28th on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus," adding: "(The opposition and others) keep talking about evidence, but the evidence — the fragments (of the explosive) and everything else — has already been collected and handed over to the National Forensic Service, so the (analysis results) will come out. They should say that they will examine it closely and reinvestigate. Why are they staying still like a mute who ate honey?"
"Going too far into political infighting is bad," he said, while faulting the government's response: "Still, they need to say this (that the investigation results will come out soon). Why don't they?"
Park had earlier criticized the government for not immediately disclosing that the Ukrainian government had repatriated two North Korean soldiers taken as prisoners of war to South Korea, asking, "Why don't they govern proactively and instead hide behind the scenes?" On the closed-door nature of the transfer itself, he said, "Of course it is kept confidential. As for those prisoners, we are not a party to the war." But he added: "Once Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed it, they should have just said, 'Two prisoners have arrived.' Why didn't they? Why come out after the fact and say, 'We agreed with President Zelenskyy not to disclose it, but he did'?"
On the selection of a new presidential chief of staff, a post left vacant by the resignation of Kang Hoon-sik, Park said, "I really hope they pick someone of heavyweight stature." He added, "The president should treat the chief of staff post with more weight. I hope they appoint someone who can say, 'Mr. President, it would be better not to do this.'" He also joked that "the most suitable person is me."
On writer Rhyu Si-min, a progressive commentator who has been criticizing President Lee Jae-myung day after day, Park said, "Please show some restraint," and added pointedly: "Those people in 'Mun-Jo-Teol-Rae-Yu' (Moon Jae-in, Cho Kuk, Kim Ou-joon, Jung Chung-rae and Rhyu Si-min) are all our family. But while 'Mun-Jo-Teol-Rae' are doing fine, why is 'Yu' like that? Stop it."
Asked about public sentiment he gauged during the Chuseok holiday, he answered with the coined phrase "Jo-In-Seong." Explaining its meaning, he said, "People criticized why Jo Hee-de (the Supreme Court chief justice) has not been impeached, and asked about personnel appointments — why the choices and the vetting are no better than that." He added, "President Lee Jae-myung must succeed for democracy to exist in this country and for the investments made in the economy to pay off."
