Kim Yo Jong cites Seoul minister's DMZ mine remark; opposition calls for his impeachment

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, director of the Workers' Party General Affairs Department, said in a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency on October 8 that South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young had "confessed" that it was hard to conclude the mine explosion in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) was a deliberate attack by the North. She said South Korea was locked in an endless "dog fight" over whether the blast was an accident or a provocation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Kim was referring to Chung's answers at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's audit of the ministry on October 7, held at the Inter-Korean Dialogue Office in Jongno, Seoul. When independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon argued that the September 21 explosion should be defined as a North Korean attack, Chung replied: "I think it cannot yet be specified as a mine attack." Kukmin Ilbo reported he answered "yes" when asked whether he called it an unexpected accident because intent had not been established. Maeil Business reported that Chung told People Power Party lawmaker Park Choong-kwon (박충권) that no final announcement on intent had been made and that the blast was basically defined as a mine explosion accident, and that he rejected the claim he was minding Kim's mood. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Han wrote on Facebook that the Lee Jae-myung government, by calling the mine attack an "unexpected accident", had given the North a pretext for an insulting distortion of the facts. He said the North planted mines for South Korean troops to step on and that this was "clearly a mine attack", and called for a strong response from the government. People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk (장동혁) said the episode showed which side Chung was helping, five-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won said Chung should be impeached, and Kim Gi-hyeon (김기현) sarcastically congratulated Chung on being praised by Kim Yo Jong. [ 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 ]

In the same statement Kim denounced Seoul's planned medical equipment aid, for which South Korea had obtained a sanctions exemption from the UN Security Council's 1718 Committee, as another "clown show" and "the second act" following what she called a clumsily staged mine farce. She called the aid an insult to the North and a "political provocation", and said it was the North's unchanging position that it would have nothing to exchange or be involved in with South Korea and that the hostile nature of relations would not change. [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Maeil Business reported that the aid targets Kangdong County Hospital in Pyongyang, with 166 types of diagnostic, surgical and treatment equipment to be supplied through the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) under an exemption approved in May. A ministry official said a planned November shipment was unrealistic because there had been no consultation with the North, and that the nine-month exemption would need extending after it expires in February. [ 3 ]

Seoul Economic Daily said this was Kim's fourth statement since the mine blast, after September 29 and October 2 and 3. Park Won-gon (박원곤) of Ewha Womans University said the North was reaffirming its "hostile two states" principle, while Lim Eul-chul (임을출) of Kyungnam University said it was denying the provocation and building grounds for retaliation against South Korean military measures. [ 4 ]