PPP floor leader calls for loudspeaker reinstallation, resumption of anti-North broadcasts

People Power Party Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik called Tuesday for the government to immediately reinstall loudspeakers that had been dismantled along the border and resume anti-North Korea broadcasts.

Speaking at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly, Jeong said the government must also "fundamentally strengthen the alert posture along the Military Demarcation Line to deter further provocations from the North."

His remarks came after military authorities concluded that a landmine that exploded in the western front demilitarized zone was most likely of North Korean origin. "As expected, North Korea's base act of provocation has in effect been made virtually certain," Jeong said. "The military authorities have clearly warned that if confirmed, all responsibility lies with the North. We will be watching to see whether action follows."

He added, however, that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had left open the possibility that the mine was not North Korea's doing, even as the evidence it presented pointed strongly to Pyongyang. "It appears the military is still maintaining a submissive posture toward the North, which is deeply disappointing," he said.

Jeong said the government must reach a swift conclusion given the national security implications and take firm, proportionate measures. "When North Korea planted mines in 2015, we responded immediately by resuming loudspeaker broadcasts," he said. "The same must be done now."

Jeong also said that after Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek issued guidelines instructing troops not to respond mechanically to North Korean MDL incursions but to exercise situational judgment, the military's warning broadcasts and warning shots had weakened. "The lax alert posture created by the Lee Jae Myung government has caused the kind of security disaster we are seeing now," he said.

"Above all, the government and the ruling party must seize this moment to declare the abandonment of their policy of submission toward the North," Jeong said. He also called for a complete cancellation of the budget for North Korea support. "How long will we beg for peace from our principal enemy — one that does nothing but provoke and threaten — and pour the people's hard-earned tax money into it?" he said.

Jeong said President Lee Jae Myung had mentioned in his UN speech the idea of exchanging sanctions relief for a nuclear freeze, and that Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok on Monday had spoken of building a consensus on an inter-Korean peace framework. "I urge the government and the ruling party to finally shed the delusion of false peace and face the harsh reality of North Korean landmines exploding on our soil," he said.