Former and current administrations clash head-on over ‘unification’
Moon: “The most dangerous situation since the Korean War”
Office of the President: “North Korea’s Sympathy is an Unconstitutional Idea”
The controversy that started when former Chief of Staff to the President Im Jong-seok insisted, “Let’s not reunify,” is escalating into a head-on clash between the former and current administrations. On the 20th, the Office of the President strongly criticized Im’s remarks the previous day, saying, “It is similar to an opinion that agrees with the North Korean regime’s will,” and that it is an “unconstitutional idea.” Targeting former President Moon Jae-in’s statement on the same day that “a comprehensive review of the existing peace discourse and unification discourse is necessary,” they criticized, “Isn’t the (Moon Jae-in government) just lobbying the United States and the entire world while saying, ‘The war is over. Peace has come’?” In contrast, former President Moon directly criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s North Korea policy that day, saying, “They are worsening the situation by giving up dialogue under the guise of a ‘free advance northward,’ and by expressing a de facto will for absorption and unification.”
● Yongsan “Sympathizing with the North” vs. Moon “Situation worsens due to absorption unification”
A senior official from the Blue House met with reporters during President Yoon’s official visit to the Czech Republic that day and stated, “It is a command and duty of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea to pursue peaceful unification based on liberal democracy,” and added, “If there is no such will, it is an unconstitutional idea.” This was a rebuttal to former Chief of Staff Lim’s claim in his keynote speech at the 6th Anniversary of the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration that “let’s put aside unrealistic discussions of unification and accept two countries.” The official also asked, “(Former Chief of Staff Lim’s statement) is an argument that we should also give up unification, but do you think North Korea has really given up on unification?” He then pointed out, “When Kim Il-sung advocated (the Koryo Federation System), he set a precondition that a federation system would be possible if the National Security Act was abolished and the US Forces Korea were withdrawn,” and “Therefore, those who agree with these two preconditions are similar to those who agree with the will of the North Korean regime.”
This official also pointed out that regarding the Moon Jae-in government’s ‘denuclearization process,’ “Looking back at the previous government, it seems that they consistently insisted on a declaration of the end of the war,” and “However, they seemed to be sloppy in terms of preparing any kind of physical response to North Korea’s power.” He added, “If the peace theory is to maintain peace by simply talking to North Korea in that way, it is unrealistic.”
On the other hand, former President Moon strongly criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s North Korea policy in his keynote speech at the “Jeonnam Peace Conference” held on the 6th anniversary of the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration on the 20th, saying, “The current government’s response is worsening the situation.” He said, “The current government is only calling for peace through force and is effectively expressing its will for absorption unification by claiming a ‘free advance northward,’ thereby nullifying the efforts of previous governments that repeatedly expressed their lack of will for absorption unification in order to build trust and engage in dialogue with North Korea.”
Former President Moon said, “(This is) the most dangerous situation since the Korean War,” and added, “With South Korea at the forefront of a sharp confrontation, the Korean Peninsula is becoming a powder keg of a new Cold War that could erupt at any time.” He continued to criticize, “If we continue to ignore dialogue (with North Korea) and insist on a confrontational path, when North Korea-U.S. dialogue resumes someday, we will make the mistake of looking up at the roof.”
● Criticism of “Two-nation acceptance theory is abandoning North Korean defectors”
Experts pointed out that former Chief of Staff Lim’s two-state acceptance theory and his claim to delete or revise Article 3 of the Constitution, which defines the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands as South Korean territory, “will eliminate the legal basis for our government to protect North Korean defectors and lead to permanent division.” This is because they are trying to eliminate the constitutional basis for viewing North Korean land as South Korean territory.
There is also criticism that the current and former administrations are passing the buck to each other in a situation where the positions of the former and current administrations are in conflict over the North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un’s continued measures to cut off the North and the South based on the theory of two hostile states. Former Minister of Unification Kang In-duk, who served under the Kim Dae-jung administration, pointed out that “it is not a good sight for the former and current administrations to engage in political strife in a serious situation where the North Korean nuclear threat is intensifying.”
Reporter Shin Jin-woo [email protected]
Reporter Shin Gyu-jin [email protected]
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2024-09-20 23:34:25