Parties clash over resolution to denounce North Korea

Main opposition People Power Party floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young, left, holds signs in protest of the Moon Jae-in administration's response to the North's suspected killing of a South Korean national last week during a one-person rally, Sunday, in the vicinity of Cheong Wa Dae. One of the signs reads "Mr. President, where are you?" PPP interim leader Kim Chong-in paid a visit to the site of the rally for support. Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

Parties are clashing over the possibility of adopting a National Assembly resolution to denounce North Korea over its suspected killing of a South Korean national last week in the North’s territorial waters.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) defined the shooting of the South Korean national who was a civil servant as an “act of atrocity” and proposed the adoption of an Assembly resolution to condemn North Korea. “We will seek an Assembly resolution with the coordination of the opposition parties and pass it at the plenary session,” DPK floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon said during a party meeting in the morning of Sept. 25. “Through the resolution, we will inform the world of the Assembly’s stern and resolute determination against North Korea’s atrocity, which cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. North Korea must apologize to our people and the victim and punish those responsible.”

But the mood at the ruling party has noticeably changed after Cheong Wa Dae unveiled in the afternoon of Sept. 25 a notice from the North Korean side, containing its early findings of the incident and some expressions of apology from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Parties differ on the interpretation of Kim’s words in the notice, which was made public during Sept. 25 a press conference by presidential National Security Adviser Suh Hoon. According to the notice, reportedly delivered to Cheong Wa Dae by the National Intelligence Service, Kim said, “I am very sorry for the unexpected, awful incident in our territorial waters, which has aggravated the grave disappointment of President Moon and the people of the South, who are already struggling under the threat of COVID-19.”

The notice has resulted in the DPK losing its initial urgency about the need for the resolution to condemn North Korea as the resolution was framed as an apology and calls for a thorough investigation. Party insiders reportedly say that the urgent need for the resolution has subsided since the North has already apologized. The ruling party and the Moon administration are also making note of the recent exchange of letters between Moon and Kim, which was made known to the public suddenly along with North Korea’s notice. “The North has never made such a swift apology,” Unification Minister Lee In-young said during a session of the Assembly’s Committee for Foreign Affairs and Unification, Sept. 25. The presidential office at first declined to go into the specifics about the letter exchanges, except to say that they had taken place “within a month.” But in an extremely rare move, the presidential office disclosed the entire letter Moon sent to Kim on Sept. 8, and a reply from Kim to Moon on Sept. 12. The presidential office said that the reason for the disclosure was the “public’s high interest.”

But despite the all-out efforts for Cheong Wa Dae to change the mood, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is determined to pass the resolution during a plenary session today as they do not see the notice as a true apology. “Given the brutality of the incident, the apology is not sincere,“ PPP floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young said in a media interview.

Joo participated in a series of one-person rallies in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Sunday, to condemn the President and his administration’s handling of the incident.

Some North Korea experts are pointing out that it is not a true apology unless it is carried in its state media, which has remained completely silent on the matter and Kim’s reference to it in the recent notice sent to the South. Following North Korea’s notice, some liberal commentators are stirring controversy by suggesting that the apology, in addition to the recent exchange of personal letters between President Moon and Kim, could be an opportunity to resuscitate inter-Korean relations.

“The incident is extremely regrettable and unfortunate for the bereaved families of the victim, but this can also be an occasion to improve things,” Jeong Se-hyun, a former unification minister during the Kim Dae-jung administration, said during a recent YouTube discussion organized by a foundation for the late former President Roh Moo-hyun.

“Now that North Korea has made a big gesture, it is up to us to make the next move for reviving inter-Korean relations.”

The discussion was arranged for the 13th anniversary of the Oct. 4 Declaration from the 2007 inter-Korean summit between Roh and Kim Jong-il, the incumbent’s late father.