[Initial View] Government Swayed by Bukhan

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] On the morning of the 3rd, a full meeting of the Intelligence Committee on the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was held at the National Assembly. Director Park Ji-won of the NIS revealed a sensitive piece of intelligence regarding North Korea.

Director Park stated that the sudden restoration of the inter-Korean communication line on the 27th of last month was "at the request of Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea (General Secretary of the Workers' Party)."

This statement came out during a press briefing held after the meeting by Kim Byung-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea and Ha Tae-kyung of the People Power Party, who serve as the ruling and opposition party secretaries of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

Once Director Park's remarks were made public, a stir ensued. Government authorities, including the Ministry of Unification, stepped forward to clarify.

The Ministry of Unification drew a line regarding the recent statement that the restoration of the inter-Korean communication line was at the request of the General Secretary, saying, "Neither side requested it first."

They reaffirmed, "The restoration of the inter-Korean communication line was the result of mutual understanding that trust recovery and improvement of inter-Korean relations were necessary, following several exchanges of letters between the leaders of South and North Korea on the occasion of the 3rd anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration."

Following the government's active clarification, Director Park's remarks seemed to have been settled. It was suggested that there was a problem with the way information was conveyed by the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, and that Director Park's remarks were miscommunicated.

Unlike other standing committees, the Intelligence Committee, which oversees the intelligence agency NIS, conducts most of its meetings behind closed doors, and afterwards, the ruling and opposition party secretaries brief the media on the NIS report contents.

Because of this, there have been criticisms that the NIS reports, passing through the secretaries' mouths once more, are sometimes conveyed in a different context from the original or emphasized differently depending on the political stance of the ruling and opposition parties.

A week later, on the 10th, the situation reversed. On the morning of the 10th, the day the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercise's pre-training began, Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the North Korean Workers' Party, issued a critical statement, and in the afternoon, the inter-Korean communication line was cut off.

This marked a communication blackout just 14 days after the sudden restoration of the inter-Korean communication line on the 27th of last month.

The next day, North Korea's Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers' Party United Front Department, mentioned the inter-Korean communication line issue in a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency.

In the statement, Kim Yong-chol described the restoration of the inter-Korean communication line as North Korea's "goodwill" and a "chance for reversal" for the South.

He added that although Deputy Director Kim Yo-jong gave a "meaningful warning and a clear opportunity for choice" in her statement on the 1st, "the South chose the path of confrontation," shifting the responsibility for the communication line cut-off onto our government.

Because of this, although the Blue House and the Ministry of Unification denied it, Director Park's statement on the 3rd at the National Assembly gained credibility.

Experts evaluate that our government has once again fallen into North Korea's strategy.

From the moment the communication line was restored just before the start of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, North Korea's strategy to demand a halt to the exercises as the price for restoring the communication line, and if not accepted, to shift the responsibility for the deterioration of inter-Korean relations while raising tensions, has become clearly evident through this incident.

The problem lies in our government's response posture. Although North Korea has been issuing strong criticisms of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises day after day, the government has refrained from official responses and maintained silence.

It is somewhat understandable that the government wants to take the lead in inter-Korean relations. They likely want to demonstrate the resumption of the Korean Peninsula peace process through holding an inter-Korean summit within President Moon Jae-in's term.

However, the government must no longer be led by North Korea. While North Korea moves like a well-scripted play, if the government continues to appear confused and divided, not only will the holding of an inter-Korean summit be impossible, but inter-Korean relations will only worsen.

The more the government wavers, the more North Korea will try to break the Korean Peninsula peace mode with a barrage of criticism and military provocations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.