N. Korea provocation can affect election
Presidential hopefuls differ over how to handle Pyongyang
By Kim Rahn
All presidential contenders from both the conservative and liberal blocs criticized North Korea’s ballistic missile launch, Sunday.
But they expressed different opinions about how to handle the North Korean provocation.
Moon Jae-in, the leading presidential hopeful from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), called the missile launch a “reckless and foolish act.”
On his Facebook page, Sunday, Moon criticized North Korea for carrying out the tests despite multiple warnings from the international community.
“I question the North’s ulterior motive of the missile launch in this time of South Korea’s confused political situation (following President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment),” he said. “If North Korea continues this kind of provocation, it should bear in mind that the Kim Jong-un regime’s future will become unpredictable.”
The liberal contender, however, did not mention the need for more talks with the North to resolve the issue peacefully, unlike his previous stance. After the North’s earlier missile launch in January last year, Moon said the two Koreas should talk to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons development.
Moon’s stronger condemnation for the provocation and less stress on talks may be an attempt to woo conservative voters, who say Moon is pro-North Korea and the country’s security will be put in danger if he becomes president.
An Hee-jung, the runner-up presidential hopeful from the DPK, urged North Korea to have a forward-looking stance for talks.
“The North’s missile launch is a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the country from testing nuclear weapons,” An’s spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a statement. “The brinkmanship tactic will only result in isolation. For peace on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea should resolve the problem via talks, not via nuclear weapons.”
Another contender from the main opposition party, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, said that South Korea and the United States may not be able to control North Korea’s future provocations as long as they stick to a sanctions-only policy. “Both the South and the North should refrain from activities that could raise military tension. They have to make efforts to have talks,” Lee said in a statement.
Presidential hopefuls from conservative blocs called for sterner and stronger countermeasures than liberal candidates.
Rep. Yoo Seong-min of the minor conservative Bareun Party stressed the need to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here as soon as possible.
“It is likely for the North to carry out more aggressive and various provocations ahead of the South Korea-U.S. joint military drill in March,” Yoo said in a statement. “Based on the strong alliance of the two nations, the South Korean military should be fully ready for any provocation. Also, the ruling and opposition parties as well as their presidential contenders should end the exhausting argument over the THAAD deployment, but support it.”
Rep. Won Yoo-chul of the ruling Liberty Korea Party (LKP) (formerly the Saenuri Party) reaffirmed his claim to have South Korea armed with nuclear weapons. “A nuclear umbrella may get torn, and we can’t borrow our neighbors’ umbrellas every time it rains. We need to wear a raincoat now,” he said in a press briefing.
Former Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo, also from the LKP, demanded the government consider a preemptive strike option. “The North will come to the negotiation table for denuclearization when the South resorts to active measures,” he said on Facebook.