LKP's ideological attack escalates after North Korea firing

Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn speaks during his nationwide tour to protest the government at Jagalchi Market in Busan, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) stepped up criticism over the Moon Jae-in administration’s North Korea policy, Tuesday, after North Korea’s firing of projectiles.

LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn condemned the government’s North Korea policy, criticizing that it failed to detect what Pyongyang fired were “missiles.”

“North Korea took provocative actions against South Korea. But the Moon Jae-in administration claims what North fired were not missiles,” Hwang said during his nationwide tour in Busan, Tuesday.

Claiming that South Korean people live under the threat of the North’s nuclear weapons, he said “South Korea’s economy, people’s lives and security have collapsed under the current administration.”

He also criticized the government’s “income-led” policy for resulting in slow growth and reporting higher unemployment.

Rep. Na Kyung-won, floor leader of the LKP, also claimed the government made a “lukewarm response” to the North’s move and minimized the North’s threats to support Pyongyang.

“The North’s missile directly targeted our people’s lives and safety. But government authorities said it is hard to tell whether what the North fired was to attack or defend something. I cannot tell whether the Moon Jae-in administration works for our people or for North Korea.”

The move is likely aimed to step up criticism against what they called the ruling party’s intention to extend the “leftist regime” after the LKP failed to block the other four parties’ move to fast-track reform bills in the National Assembly. The LKP has staged sit-ins and sleep-ins with the aim to interfere with other parties’ attempts to put the bills on the fast track at the National Assembly and claimed the government has been orchestrating the fast-tracking attempt.

Hwang is widely expected to continue his claims that the Moon Jae-in administration is a “dictatorship” during the tour while promoting his party to raise its support ratings before next year’s general elections.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang continued to criticize South Korea for continuing joint military exercises with the U.S., warning that such acts violate the declaration made between the two Koreas and could damage inter-Korean relations.

Meari, one of Pyongyang’s propaganda websites, criticized recent exercises that the South and the U.S. jointly conducted for two weeks starting April 22, as well as August’s upcoming training, saying “These military provocations could break the trust between the Koreas and make the situation even worse.”

Describing the joint drills as “an apparent betrayal by the South of the inter-Korean agreements,” it called on the South Korean military to “behave discerningly” if it doesn’t want a breakdown of relations.

The media’s move is the latest in a series of criticisms by Pyongyang over Seoul’s military drills with Washington in an apparent sign of growing frustration over stalled denuclearization talks with President Donald Trump.