People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk on the 1st, Armed Forces Day, pressed President Lee Jae-myung over a North Korean land mine blast, saying that failing to hold Pyongyang firmly accountable would amount to "confessing to illegal remittances to North Korea and admitting to being a guard watching over Kim Jong-un's moods."
Jang made the remarks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, calling the mine incident "a joint product of the Moon Jae-in government's dismantling of frontline guard posts and the Lee Jae-myung government's idle bystanding." He said accountability must be pursued for what he called "a clear act of treason," adding, "If President Lee has no intention of protecting the people from our principal enemy, North Korea, I hope he steps down from that post immediately."
Jang condemned the North Korean mine explosion that occurred in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone on the 21st of last month as "a clear act of aggression." He said the United Nations Command had made clear a day earlier that North Korea laid the mines and that this violated the armistice agreement, and demanded "an immediate apology from the North Korean authorities and restoration measures including the removal of mines inside the DMZ."
He also said the government was preoccupied with shielding North Korea even in such a grave situation. "Jin Sung-joon, the Democratic Party lawmaker who chairs the National Defense Committee, is claiming that North Korea's mines are defensive and do not violate the armistice agreement," Jang said. "A lawmaker like this is serving as defense committee chair in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. The Democratic Party says with its mouth that it condemns North Korea, but is pouring its energy only into attacking the previous government."
Chung Jom-sig, the People Power Party floor leader, said the defense committee had failed to adopt a resolution condemning North Korea "because of the Democratic Party's obstinacy." He said the reason was that "the People Power Party called for halting aid to North Korea and for reinstalling loudspeakers along the border and resuming broadcasts into the North, but the Democratic Party opposed it."
He added that providing aid "while North Korea is carrying out provocations and aggression is an act of treason," and said he suspected the Democratic Party was "playing both sides, dodging responsibility before the public with a hollow resolution while watching out for North Korea's reaction."
