Han Byeong-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party, calls for an apology from North Korea and criticizes the People's Power Party for the conclusion of 'North Korea's landmine planting'

At the conclusion of 'North Korea's landmine laying', "North Korea must apologize... It must reflect on its national power that engages in political strife."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Nam-kwon and Jeong Yeon-sol = On the 6th, Han Byeong-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, who submitted a written explanation for his absence as a general witness to the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Court's government affairs, "to appear before the National Assembly as a witness and explain in detail to the public the vacancy in the Supreme Court Justice."

At a National Assembly inspection meeting held at the National Assembly on this day, floor leader Han said, “Ignoring the National Assembly, the hall of public opinion, is no different from ignoring the people.”

He pointed out, “With the Supreme Court Justice vacuum continuing for 217 days, the processing period for criminal case appeals has lengthened by nearly a month,” and added, “If you are the head of the Supreme Court with the power to recommend a Supreme Court Justice, you must first answer what you did to resolve the vacuum.”

Representative Han also said that the military's final judgment that the landmine explosion that occurred in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was caused by a landmine planted by North Korea south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) was "strongly condemned by North Korea's illegal planting of landmines."

He added, “It is a clear violation of the armistice agreement and a serious provocation that threatened the lives and safety of our soldiers.” He added, “North Korea must admit responsibility and apologize.”

Addressing the People Power Party, he criticized, "Not only did they disparage the military's measures to eliminate the danger (from landmines planted by North Korea) by calling it a provocation, they insulted our military by calling it a plant army," and added, "The People Power Party, which does not cooperate with the adoption of a resolution condemning North Korea at the National Assembly level and even makes the removal of land mines to protect the safety of soldiers a subject of political strife, deserves to reflect."