Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Opposition leadership contenders slam Moon's N. Korea policy
From left, Oh Se-hoon, Kim Jin-tae and Hwang Kyo-ahn ― the candidates in the Feb. 27 chairmanship election for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), join hands together before their live TV debate in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
Candidates call for sanctions, pressure
By Yi Whan-woo
All three candidates in the chairmanship election for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) next week criticized President Moon Jae-in's dovish North Korea policy.
During a live TV debate, Sunday, the three ― Hwang Kyo-ahn, Oh Se-hoon and Kim Jin-tae ― said the government should focus on sanctions and pressure in accordance with the U.N. Security Council's measures on Pyongyang.
A former Seoul mayor, Oh even cited a need to redeploy U.S tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea.
The LKP candidates' criticism came in the lead-up to the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled for Feb. 27 and 28 in Hanoi. The LKP chairman election will be held on Feb. 27, during the summit.
“We need a North Korea policy based on principles,” Hwang, a former prime minister, said when asked about the Moon administration's policy on the North and Pyongyang's denuclearization. “Now is the time to concentrate on sanctions and pressure and we should make our North Korea policy consistent to ensure national security.”
Kim, a two-term lawmaker, referenced last year's Bloomberg report that Moon had “amounted to a de facto spokesman” for the North Korean leader during the U.N. General Assembly sessions in September 2018.
“Back then, our President advocated that Kim gave up nukes and I wonder whether I should view the Moon administration and the Kim regime as a joint government,” he said.
He urged the government to actively join the UNSC sanctions, saying, “The North apparently has not given up nukes.”
Oh argued the North's nuclear program will not be scrapped if the UNSC “loosens the noose too easily.”
He proposed the U.S. to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons, saying, “The Moon government is begging the North, while preventing a possible way to have tactical nuclear weapons to be deployed or pursue a nuclear program on our own.”
U.S tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn from the Korean Peninsula in 1991 as part of President George H.W. Bush's Presidential Nuclear Initiative.
There had been calls for redeployment when Pyongyang repeatedly performed its ballistic missile tests in 2017, but no longer amid the reconciliatory mood between the two Koreas as well as between North Korea and the U.S.