Yoon's 'New Year's Address Without North Korea' Criticized by Yoo Seung-min and Chung Dong-young as "Confession of Incompetence" (Summary)

Yoo Seung-min "No comment on North Korea is puzzling"
Jung Dong-young "A dangerous way of thinking"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Both ruling and opposition party figures criticized the absence of any mention of North Korea in President Yoon Seok-yeol's New Year's address.

Former Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-young said on the 2nd on YTN's 'News King Park Ji-hoon' that "(the lack of mention of North Korea in the New Year's address) was a mistake," adding, "It is truly regrettable that the president did not include any reference to peace, which is an essential condition for our survival, in this year's New Year's address."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He stated, "If this trend continues, it seems the Yoon administration does not care if peace on the Korean Peninsula is broken, which is a very dangerous mindset," and pointed out, "Under no circumstances should inter-Korean dialogue be abandoned, and saying that the North does not respond to dialogue is a confession of incompetence."

Former Minister Jeong added, "A proper nation conducts diplomacy even during war; we must seek solutions through dialogue by any means," and said, "Since dialogue broke down and the confrontation phase escalated, the North has been racing ahead with nuclear development. Since 2020, when inter-Korean and North Korea-US talks froze, the North's nuclear capabilities and offensive attack abilities have increased, while our stability and peace have been shaken."

Yoo Seung-min, a former lawmaker and one of the next ruling party leadership candidates, also said on the same radio program, "I saw the New Year's address, and there was not a single word about security or North Korea," adding, "I found that very puzzling."

He said, "Conservative administrations have not demonstrated the ability to solve economic and security issues," and emphasized, "Now, in 2023, the economic security crisis is the most severe. North Korea fired missiles on December 31 and again on January 1, and unmanned aerial vehicles came and went. In Kim Jong-un's (General Secretary of the Workers' Party) New Year's address, he said they would exponentially increase their nuclear warhead stockpile. To resolve these issues, now is the time to show capability."

Former lawmaker Yoo also criticized President Yoon's orders to respond to provocations, saying, "It was just words; they failed to stop it." He said, "Despite deploying all our fighter jets and attack helicopters against a single North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle, only one of our light attack aircraft crashed, and we failed to shoot down even one unmanned aerial vehicle."

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