Jang Dong-hyuk: “If Lee ordered a cover-up of North Korean landmines, that would be grounds for impeachment ... His trial must resume”

[Financial News] Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, claimed on the 8th, regarding North Korea’s planting of landmines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), that “if President Lee Jae-myung ordered the downplaying and concealment of the incident and a failure to respond, that would be an unmistakable act of aiding the enemy and clear grounds for impeachment.” He also urged Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae to resume Lee’s trial as soon as possible.
At a Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Jang said: “Yesterday’s parliamentary audit of the Ministry of National Defense revealed that our military had already identified suspected areas where North Korea had planted mines in September last year, and had immediately reported this to then Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back.”
He claimed that “they downplayed and concealed it by calling it a change in terrain, and effectively did nothing for more than a year,” adding, “It would not have been the military’s judgment or Ahn Gyu-back’s decision. It would have been impossible without an order from President Lee, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.” He went on to demand that “President Lee clearly disclose to the public when, how and what reports he received, and what measures he ordered.”
He also criticized the government’s response to North Korea, saying, “With the president himself calling it an accident and the defense minister just indulging in self-delusion, whom can our service members trust as they face North Korean troops?” He added, “We cannot entrust the defense of the Republic of Korea and the safety of its people to a president hamstrung by North Korean landmines,” and said, “If he does not step down on his own, the people must oust him.”
Regarding the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s parliamentary audit of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, Jang claimed that “the Democratic Party of Korea forced Chief Justice Cho to take an oath as a witness, bombarded him with unconstitutional and insulting questions, and confined him in the audit hearing room,” calling it “a clear violation of the separation of powers and an insurrection in parliament.”
He said, “If they want to uncover the truth about the re-nomination of Supreme Court justices, they should summon President Lee, not Chief Justice Cho,” adding, “Chief Justice Cho is now fighting to defend the judiciary and the Republic of Korea.”
He went on to say, “The last thing left to do now is resume President Lee’s trial,” and urged, “Trust the people and resume President Lee’s trial as soon as possible.”
Floor Leader Chung Jeom-sik also joined in, telling President Lee to “declare that you will stand trial confidently, as befits a president, and stop acts that are destroying the Republic of Korea.”
Chung also raised allegations that the so-called “Seongnam-Gyeonggi line,” including Kim Hyun-ji, head of the Blue House’s support office, and Jung Jin-sang, former head of the Democratic Party of Korea’s political affairs coordination office, had intervened in appointments at public institutions.
He claimed that Ha Dong-geun, president of Korea District Heating Corp., was appointed to the post despite ranking last in both the document screening and interview stages of the executive selection process. “If you have ties to influential figures in the Seongnam-Gyeonggi line, the document-screening process parts like the Red Sea, as if by a miracle,” he criticized. He added, “At this point, they should come before the National Assembly themselves and give a full explanation,” urging Kim and Jung to appear at the parliamentary audit.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter