"You have to know something to fight Han Dong-hoon... Why are you hiding?" Park Ji-won blasts government over 'mine incident and undisclosed North Korean POWs'

[Financial News]  Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ji-won demanded that the government explain the mine explosion in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war from Ukraine to South Korea.
On the 26th, Park criticized the government in a Facebook post for not issuing an official announcement about the recent mine explosion in the western sector of the DMZ and the transfer of North Korean POWs. "With the president in mind, how can the government just stand by and watch? Why can't you explain instead of keeping quiet? Why aren't you taking proactive action and instead hiding?" he said.
Earlier, on the 21st, three South Korean service members were injured in an accident believed to have been caused by a mine explosion while conducting an operation to clear a search route in the western sector of the DMZ. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said in a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on the 23rd local time that two North Korean POWs had been sent to South Korea. The government had expressed concern that Ukraine disclosed the matter first, given that it had been handled confidentially.
President Lee Jae Myung said on X, formerly Twitter, on the 24th, "The issue of bringing North Korean POWs to South Korea is a highly sensitive agenda that could significantly affect diplomacy, national security and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Considering the various issues that could arise from making it public, keeping it confidential was justified in every respect, and that was what we agreed." He added, "Ukraine violated the confidentiality agreement and made it public. I do not know what circumstances led to this, but it is deeply regrettable."
The Ukrainian presidential office told Yonhap News Agency, "It would have been strange for us to simply send somewhere in secret those whom our soldiers had captured as prisoners. The full circumstances of this matter are lengthy and detailed, but we disclosed only the fact that we had sent them to South Korea."
Park said, "If two North Korean POWs came to South Korea from Ukraine, why can't the government disclose the fact that it accepted them from Ukraine on humanitarian grounds? If our soldiers were injured in a mine incident, the public will understand only if the facts are disclosed as they are." He emphasized, "Even if our military suffered an accident in North Korean territory, the facts should still be disclosed as they are."
He lashed out, saying, "If our diplomacy merely plays catch-up with Ukrainian diplomacy while invoking diplomatic concerns over Zelenskyy's disclosure in his UN speech, what happens to the people's pride? If there has been no post-event explanation for either the ruling party's secretary on the National Assembly Intelligence Committee or me, is this the government disregarding ruling-party lawmakers by telling us to merely watch from the sidelines?"
He continued, "Even if we are to take on that troublesome opposition and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, we need to know what is going on. Rather than looking only to the president, all government officials from the prime minister downward should get a grip." He added, "The people and the ruling party are a force to be reckoned with, too. If this is how you are going to do things, all of you should step down. We will take over."
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter