Park Ji-won criticizes government's response to 'landmines and North Korean prisoners of war': "The truth must be revealed"

Park Ji-won criticizes government's response to 'landmines and North Korean prisoners of war': "The truth must be revealed"

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Jae-ha = On the 26th, the Democratic Party of Korea counterattacked the People Power Party's continued offensive regarding the suspected mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), calling it a "conspiracy theory that instigates security anxiety."

Chief Spokesperson Park Seong-joon said this in a written briefing that day, saying, “The People Power Party’s behavior of using security as a tool for political strife is going too far.”

Chief Spokesperson Park said, "Our military is maintaining a thorough preparedness posture and working to minimize the risk of an unexpected secondary accident," and pointed out, "The People Power Party is busy disparaging the military's efforts. The current state of the People Power Party is the traitorous behavior of only running political calculators without considering national security."

He then said, “The People Power Party’s conspiracy theory is a serious threat that shakes the national security of the Republic of Korea,” and urged, “We hope that they will immediately stop raising conspiracy theories that incite security instability.”

In a written briefing, floor spokesperson Jeon Eun-soo also criticized, saying, “Security is not something to be guessed at,” and “Do not use the lives and security of soldiers for political purposes.”

Former floor spokesperson said, “The government and military have never ruled out the possibility that it was a land mine planted by North Korea,” and asked, “What is the basis for concluding that ‘North Korea is certain to have done this’ before the results of the investigation are released and claiming that the government is trying to cover it up?”

The Democratic Party also took issue with the conservative opposition's criticism of the government's 'non-disclosure policy' regarding the repatriation of North Korean prisoners of war from Ukraine.

Chief Spokesperson Park emphasized, “It is an extremely common sense measure to keep the matter private in order to ensure the safety of defectors and minimize unnecessary stimulation and confrontation,” adding, “A normal political group should have held the other party responsible for disclosing this before considering whether or not it was covered up.”

However, some in the Democratic Party also criticized the government's response to the repatriation of North Korean troops and the DMZ landmine incident.

Five-term lawmaker Park Jie-won wrote on Facebook, "If our soldiers were injured in a landmine accident, we must reveal the truth so that our people understand. If two North Korean prisoners of war came to our country from Ukraine, why can't we reveal that the prisoners were taken from Ukraine for humanitarian purposes?"

Rep. Park pointed out that the government did not provide a proper explanation to the ruling party, and said, "Are our ruling party lawmakers ignoring the ruling party when the government tells them to just watch a ritual and eat rice cake? Even if they try to fight with the opposition party and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, they need to know to avoid it."

He continued, “Don’t just look at the president, the prime minister and other members of the previous government should come to their senses. Both the people and the ruling party are scared.”