By Kim Ji-soo
A day after adopting a bipartisan resolution denouncing North Korea for its deadly attack on Yeonpyeong Island, ruling and opposition legislators sparred Friday over the “right” North Korea policy.
Speaking at an extended party meeting, Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said “The Lee Myung-bak administration is incapable in terms of security, with no ability to adequately prepare for and respond to a North Korean attack.” He added that, “War can never be the solution, and we should follow the way of peace. There is no better security than peace.”
Rep. Chung Dong-young, a member of the DP’s Supreme Council, said that “The attack on Yeonpyeong Island has proven that the Sunshine Policy is the best policy for ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula.” Chung urged the government to shift its North Korea policy.
The DP is affiliated with the late former President Kim Dae-jung who was the architect behind the Sunshine Policy of engaging the North. Despite the bipartisan resolution on North Korea, the main opposition party has consistently been critical of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s relatively hard-line stance toward the North.
The ruling opposition Grand National Party (GNP) responded to the DP’s criticisms. Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the GNP floor leader said, “We are in a quasi-state of war, and we should be united in what steps we will be taking next.”
The partisan dueling over North Korea policy is invariably linked to such pressing issues as seeing through the four-river refurbishment project pending at the National Assembly’s regular session.
Rep. Park Jie-won of the DP demanded that the Lee administration “cut the budget for the four-river refurbishment project, and increase the defense budget.”
Ahn Sang-soo, chairman of the GNP, said that “We have to ensure that all budget deliberations are completed within the (Dec. 6) deadline.”