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| President Moon Jae-in's chief of staff Im Jong-seok briefs lawmakers on state affairs during the National Assembly House Steering Committee, Wednesday. In front of him, Liberty Korea Party lawmakers hold pickets in protest against the prosecutors' investigation into a LKP lawmaker. / Yonhap |
By Choi Ha-young
Rival parties clashed over the government's handling of North Korea during the National Assembly House Steering Committee, Wednesday.
The ruling camp lauded the Moon Jae-in administration's efforts for a peaceful Olympics, while the conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) blasted it as a "politicized" sports event. At the committee meeting, in charge of looking into the presidential office, many Cheong Wa Dae officials appeared including Moon's chief of staff Im Jong-seok.
"International attention is high regarding North Korea's participation in the PyeongChang Olympics. This has been a chance to show our determination to establish peace on the Korean peninsula," Chung Eui-yong, chief of Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office, said.
Lee Sang-chul, first vice chief of the NSO, added that Seoul will seek humanitarian exchanges with Pyongyang within the boundary of international sanctions against the North.
The largest conservative LKP, however, said the United States is being neglected in inter-Korean rapprochement, citing an editorial cartoon run by the New York Times. "The outcome of such mistreatment is the U.S. government's pressure on trade with Korea," said Rep. Kim Seung-hee of the LKP.
Im rebutted the claim, saying there are "an overwhelmingly large number of positive foreign media reports about the Olympics."
"It's hard to unveil everything here, but the various dialogue channels between the two countries are working well, smoothly talking about the North's nuclear problem," Im said. Also, he said the planned visit of Ivanka Trump, the President's oldest daughter, proves that there is "no rift" between Seoul and Washington.
Asked about the special envoy to North Korea in response to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's offer to have an inter-Korean summit, Im refused to comment. Im, a student activist-turned-politician, has been floated as a possible envoy to the North.
"I believe the inter-Korean detente is only sustainable with cooperation with the U.S. Any possible measures will be reviewed along with the communication with the U.S.," he noted.
Throughout the committee, LKP lawmakers put up pickets that read: "Suspend investigation aimed at political revenge" in protest against the prosecutors' investigation into scandal-hit LKP lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong.
LKP floor leader Rep. Kim Sung-tae, who chairs the committee, kept bickering with Im over the LKP lawmakers' requests of materials about state affairs. Some LKP lawmakers urged Cheong Wa Dae to respond to their inquiries within the morning session of the meeting, but the presidential office failed to do so.
In the end, Kim and Cheong Wa Dae officials created an awkward moment. Kim ordered Im to stand up and grilled him. Im, who reluctantly obeyed the order, fired back with a sigh, saying, "I really don't understand why you are angry at me. Your order is quite improper since I already explained the reason that we couldn't meet the deadline."
Im has been a target of the conservatives for his ideological background as a former radical student leader. In December last year, the LKP took issue with his visit to the United Arab Emirates, in which he ironically uncovered a shady military deal signed by conservative ex-President Lee Myung-bak.
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