Laugh at defector repatriation claim sparks clash at Unification Ministry audit

South Korean lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties clashed on 7 October at a parliamentary audit of the Unification Ministry after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young laughed during a question about alleged attempts to persuade North Korean defectors to return to the North. The audit by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee was held at the ministry's Inter-Korean Talks Headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Park Choong-kwon, a People Power Party lawmaker who is himself a defector from North Korea, told Chung he was hearing that a ministry division and Minbyun (민변), the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, were working together to repeatedly contact defectors who had settled well in South Korea and urge them to go back, asking whether they did not want to return to the North. Outlets differ on the division's name: SBS News called it the settlement support division, while Dong-A Ilbo and the Korea Economic Daily called it the policy support division. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

According to Dong-A Ilbo, Chung smiled as if the claim made no sense, and Park told him twice not to laugh, saying the tips came from a very credible source. Jung Chung-rae, a Democratic Party lawmaker and former party leader seated next to the minister, then also laughed, the newspaper reported. The Korea Economic Daily said Chung and some ruling-party lawmakers smiled. Park raised his voice, asking whether this was a laughing matter and whether they had considered how people who received such approaches would feel and how they could live with such anxiety. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Committee chair Song Seok-jun of the People Power Party asked that the questioning not be disrupted. Hong Ki-won (홍기원), the Democratic Party's secretary on the committee, said the laughter came naturally because the claim did not fit common sense and that there seemed to be a misunderstanding. Kim Dae-sik (김대식), the People Power Party's secretary, said Park was asking in order to check tips he had received and called for respect across party lines. [ 2 ]

Jung asked for time to speak and said basic physiological reactions are hard to control, that members have no authority to stop others from laughing, and that it was wrong to press a colleague over a brief laugh. He told Park to carry on with his questions. Song called that an inappropriate order to a colleague and noted that Park is a young defector whose experiences differ from those of other members. [ 2 , 3 ]

In an interview published by the Korea Economic Daily on 8 October, Park said he was also focused on two North Korean soldiers captured in the war in Ukraine who have come to South Korea. He said the circumstances of their transfer should be examined, that the National Intelligence Service's questioning should not drag on, and that the two should not be sent to North Korea. [ 4 ]