PPP Slams Plan to Restore September 19 Deal as “Catering to North Korea”

The People Power Party criticized Unification Minister Chung Dong-young for announcing his plan to partially restore the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement, calling it a move to "cater to North Korea" and asking, "Is it because he wants to hear even a single word of praise from Kim Yo-jong of North Korea?"

Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a commentary on the 18th, "The September 19 military agreement is a deal that was scrapped due to North Korea's provocations," adding, "For us to step forward and say we will be the first to restore a promise that the other side has already broken is not a will for peace but nothing more than a crude act of begging."

Yonhap News Agency

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Senior Spokesperson Park also took issue with Minister Chung expressing regret over the military's drone infiltration into North Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the recent civilian drone intrusion incident, describing it as "a hasty apology while the investigation is still underway."

He went on to say, "At a time when the facts have not been clearly established, the government adopting an attitude that appears to acknowledge responsibility on its own and bowing its head first is nothing but an act of submission that is far removed both from the prudence of a state and from the dignity of a sovereign nation."

Senior Spokesperson Park stressed, "Even if we bow our heads to North Korea and beg for peace, dialogue will not be restored, nor will tensions between the two Koreas be eased," adding, "We must never forget the fact that the more often we take a subservient posture, the more unreasonable North Korea's demands will become."

Seong Il-jong, a People Power Party lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, also demanded on Facebook that "Minister Chung Dong-young immediately withdraw the announcement and apologize."

Representative Seong pointed out, "North Korea has brought up the notion of two hostile states and seems to have no interest at all in matters such as restoring the no-fly zone, so how can someone who is the unification minister make such a careless announcement without reading North Korea's intentions at all?"

He continued, "What on earth is the minister of national defense doing, and why is the unification minister 'bypassing' the defense minister and making such an announcement on his own?"

Regarding Minister Chung's pledge to revise the Aviation Safety Act to strengthen penalties for unauthorized drone flights in restricted airspace, Representative Seong pressed him by asking, "If you make it illegal by law for North Korea to carry out drone infiltrations, does that mean that even if North Korea invades the South, we will not be able to conduct drone operations because of that law? Is that what you call a country?"

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