People Power Party's Jeong urges Lee to fire Unification Minister Chung over DMZ mine

Jeong Jeom-sik (정점식), floor leader of the People Power Party, on October 9 publicly called on President Lee Jae-myung to dismiss Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, calling him the embodiment of a line of submission to North Korea. Writing on Facebook, Jeong said dismissing Chung would be the minimum measure to respond to North Korea's mine provocation through the power of appointment and to accept public anger, Newsis reported. [ 4 , 5 ]

Newsis reported that Jeong cited Chung's remark that the North Korean mine explosion in the DMZ "cannot yet be identified as an attack". Jeong wrote that Kim Yo Jong had cited the remark, claiming that even Chung had admitted it was hard to conclude the blast was a deliberate attack, and said Chung's words had become an alibi relieving North Korea of responsibility. He contrasted what he called a hard-line response of recalling the ambassador from Ukraine, which he said had repatriated North Korean prisoners of war, with silence toward North Korea, and said the international community would read this as a signal that the government had sided with North Korea and Russia. [ 5 ]

According to Seoul Shinmun, Jeong wrote that Kim Yo Jong had the day before called medical equipment support for North Korea "another clown show". He said Chung intends to seek a peaceful solution through "line-to-line" communication despite the mine provocation, and asked whether the government would keep enduring such insults and hold a "servile rain ritual" hoping North Korea stops its provocations on its own. [ 4 , 5 ]

Jeong made the remarks as he marked the 43rd anniversary of the Aung San mausoleum bombing of October 9, 1983 in Burma (now Myanmar). He wrote that the bombing carried out by North Korea killed 17 people, including South Korean government officials, aides and journalists, and injured dozens, and called it an assassination attack targeting the South Korean president. Asia Economy reported that he named Deputy Prime Minister Seo Seok-jun (서석준), Foreign Minister Lee Beom-seok (이범석) and presidential senior economic secretary Kim Jae-ik (김재익) among the dead. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Jeong said North Korea's terrorism and provocations are not past history but ongoing. He wrote that on September 21 a mine planted by North Korean troops who crossed the Military Demarcation Line exploded in the western-front DMZ area, seriously injuring South Korean soldiers, and called it a violation of the armistice agreement. He said North Korea had again denied responsibility and called the incident "Seoul's self-staged clown show", and that South Korea must face this security reality. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Park Choong-kwon (박충권), the party's senior spokesperson, told reporters at the National Assembly on the morning of October 9 that Chung's remark would make the military's future response difficult and was harmful to the national interest. He urged the Lee Jae-myung government to adopt a proper North Korea policy and a strong security posture. [ 5 ]