Despite North Korean Landmines, KRW 9.3 Billion in Medical Equipment Aid to North Korea?... Opposition: "Loudspeaker Broadcasts Toward North Korea Must Resume"

[Financial News] As the landmine explosion in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the western front was provisionally determined to have been caused by North Korea, attention has turned to whether the Ministry of Unification (MOU) will reconsider its planned aid measures for North Korea. The MOU has been preparing a project to provide North Korea with KRW 9.3 billion worth of medical equipment. Some members of the conservative opposition are calling for the aid measures to be halted and for loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea to resume as the most immediate response to North Korea's landmine attack.
On the 29th, the MOU and the MND indicated that they would defer decisions on measures to respond to the DMZ landmine incident until the final investigation results were available. Asked whether the government might reconsider its humanitarian cooperation with North Korea, an MOU official said, "We can comment after reviewing the investigation results," declining to give a direct answer. Regarding the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea, the MND also deferred a final decision, stating, "We will review it while taking the overall final assessment into account."
The opposition, however, is demanding an immediate response, as it did after North Korea's 2015 wooden-box mine provocation.
Chung Jeom-sik, floor leader of the People Power Party, claimed that the government was maintaining a submissive stance toward North Korea and argued that the dismantled loudspeakers should be reinstalled and broadcasts toward North Korea resumed. Chung also said, "The budget for aid to North Korea should likewise be completely scrapped. How long will we beg for peace and continue to spend taxpayers' money on our principal enemy, which repeatedly provokes and threatens us?"
The Democratic Party of Korea responded that it would deal firmly with any possibility of a North Korean provocation. However, it struck a different tone, saying that military responses such as reinstalling loudspeakers toward North Korea should be approached cautiously until the military's final investigation results are released.
Han Byung-do, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "If it is ultimately confirmed that the mines were planted by North Korea, the government should take an appropriate corresponding measure." He nevertheless stressed the need for caution, saying, "The final investigation results are scheduled to be announced after an assessment with the United Nations Command (UNC)." He then strongly criticized the People Power Party, saying, "It is turning national security into a political pawn before the final results have even been released."
Jin Sung-joon, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, acknowledged that North Korea was responsible but rejected hasty military retaliation. Jin said, "The situation is different from the 2015 wooden-box mine incident, when mines were deliberately planted after an incursion intended to injure our troops." He added, "If the mines were planted for defensive purposes as part of North Korea's fortification of its border, military retaliation should be approached cautiously."

[email protected] Kim Kyung-soo Reporter