Park Ji-won: "I haven't seen Kim Jong-gu for 3-4 years... He is a figure from Yoon's side"

Cho Seong-eun, a former Future United Party election committee member, denied the connection between former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park and Ambassador Kim Jong-gu of Mongolia amid reports that Ambassador Kim provided a falsely submitted party member list during the party's founding.

On the 13th, former NIS Director Park drew a line when asked by the host on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' about reports that Ambassador Kim was a close aide of his, saying, "I have not met him even once in the past 3 to 4 years, and the founding of the party is unrelated to me."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

원본보기 아이콘

Ambassador Kim served as a spokesperson when former NIS Director Park was the leader of the People's Party. However, Park explained, "It is true that both Ambassador Kim and Mr. Cho were together in Ahn Cheol-soo's party about 3 to 4 years ago, but Ambassador Kim has been involved in politics since the Democratic Party era. He switched to Yoon Seok-yeol's campaign in the last presidential election and was appointed as Mongolia's ambassador by President Yoon Seok-yeol."

He emphasized, "He is currently the Mongolian ambassador. Therefore, when the media reports, it should be accurate to say that Park Ji-won’s close aides were in the past, and the current close aides are those of President Yoon Seok-yeol."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

원본보기 아이콘

Regarding North Korea's launch of its ninth ballistic missile that day, he said, "Kim Jong-un (General Secretary of the Workers' Party) intends to deliver a blow to the United States, Japan, and South Korea," adding, "President Yoon's overly pro-American and pro-Japanese diplomacy is causing economic trade losses with China, but it is also acting as a catalyst for strengthening the solid alliance among North Korea, China, and Russia."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the East Sea that morning. It was the ninth launch this year, occurring 17 days after the short-range ballistic missile launch on the 27th of last month. Japan issued an evacuation alert in the Hokkaido region, anticipating the missile would fall near Hokkaido.

He said, "North Korea's missile passed over the Japanese archipelago but was not intercepted. This is exactly what Kim Jong-un aims for," adding, "Because of this, inter-Korean relations need to be improved, and President Yoon must play a leverage role to improve North Korea-U.S. relations."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.