Opposition leader urges president to demand North Korea apology over DMZ landmine

Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, held a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 5 and called on President Lee Jae-myung to demand an immediate apology from North Korea and take strong countermeasures over the DMZ landmine explosion. “Protecting the safety and lives of the people is the greatest duty of a South Korean president,” Jang said, according to Electronic Times. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Jang said the president “cannot make a peep” over the landmine that severed a soldier's ankle, calling it an accidental incident, and was “busy begging for peace” despite North Korean missile launches and taunts, Yonhap reported. He said that with the commander-in-chief taking such a position, it was doubtful the military could properly carry out the corresponding measures it had announced. Electronic Times reported that Jang pointed to the president's Armed Forces Day speech, in which he said he would take steps to lower military tension. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Jang contrasted the president's reaction toward Ukraine, which repatriated North Korean prisoners of war, with his approach to the North. Yonhap quoted him as saying the president showed “anger control disorder” toward Ukraine for making him look like a liar but “controlled his anger well” toward North Korea. He said he did not believe the hesitation stemmed from the inter-Korean remittance case, noting that courts had convicted those involved and that prosecutors had indicted the president on suspicion he knew about it; Jang said a conviction was certain if the case went to trial. He added that there must be “something more” behind the stance and that public suspicion would grow if it continued. [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

On the ruling camp's dispute over the nominee to head the Serious Crime Investigation Agency, Jang said it was “too embarrassing to watch with eyes open,” according to Maeil Business. He said hardliners attacked the nominee as pro-Yoon Suk-yeol while the president countered that he was anti-Yoon, and that the agency must above all be politically neutral. Jang said that after pushing to dismantle the prosecution as a “political prosecution service,” the ruling side now wanted to create a “political investigation agency” to its own taste, warning of a “security hell” of investigative runarounds, delayed trials and buried cases. He said President Lee and the Democratic Party must take full responsibility and that the public would hold them to account. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Electronic Times reported additional points from the same press conference: Jang criticised Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's negative stance on resuming loudspeaker broadcasts to North Korea, and opposed the early transfer of wartime operational control, citing the example of a U.S. general commanding NATO's forces in Europe. He also criticised the appointments of pro-government figures as the agency's deputy chief and regional chiefs and said preparations for its launch were insufficient, with jurisdiction and case-transfer procedures between investigative bodies unresolved. None of the documents report a response from the presidential office, the ruling party or the military. [ 1 ]