Published : Oct. 16, 2016 - 17:08
South Korea’s former top diplomat’s memoir continued to deepen controversy Sunday over whether the main opposition party’s front-runner had consulted with North Korea before deciding to abstain from a vote to adopt a 2007 UN resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights situation.
The ruling Saenuri Party intensified its criticism of former Minjoo Party of Korea Chairman Moon Jae-in, denouncing the liberal politician for inquiring North Korea’s opinion on the vote when he served as a chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun.
Minjoo immediately dismissed the attack as a stint by the recently feud-ridden ruling party to divert attention away from a political scandal tied to presidential aides, as well as its plan to cripple Moon, who is a prospective opposition candidate for the presidential election slated for December next year.
The fight came amid mounting controversy over former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon’s new memoir “Moving the Glacier.” The retired career diplomat said Moon had accepted the proposal of asking North Korea about the issue and that he eventually decided to withdraw the vote after hearing Pyongyang’s negative view.
“If the allegation proves to be true, it shows that Moon has sympathized with our enemy and that he truly undermined public sentiment,” said Saenuri floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk. “We will get to the bottom of this and find out what happened.”
The floor leader added that his party would summon Kim Man-bok, a former director of the National Intelligence Service who reportedly suggested the idea to Moon. The party is planning to bring Kim as a witness in the parliamentary Intelligence Committee’s state audit Wednesday.
Moon Jae-in (left), former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and then-presidential chief of staff, sits at a Cheong Wa Dae meeting back in 2007 with then-Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, whose recent political memoir triggered controversy over the former Roh Moo-hyun administration’s North Korea policies. (Yonhap)
The retired top spy chief denied the allegation that he made such a proposal to Moon and vowed to take the stand should the bipartisan committee reach consensus. Kim said that he is willing to face a cross-examination session with Moon, if necessary.
Also, the main opposition party countered that what the former chief of staff did was not an “inquiry” about Pyeongyang’s position, but a “notification” of Seoul’s decision made by the president and Cabinet members.
According to Moon, former Foreign Minister Song was the only one who approved joining the vote, while other members such as former NIS Director Kim and former Unification Minister Lee Jae-jung opposed the move.
“It was a delivery of our decision to North Korea,” said Rep. Kim Kyoung-Soo who had served as a presidential aide in charge of speech writing during the Roh administration. “There was no reason and need for us to ask North Korea about the UN vote.”
Though he did not offer direct evidence to rebut the allegation, Moon expressed his resentment on his Facebook account, especially toward Saenuri floor leader Chung and the party’s Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, who had labeled him as a sympathizer with the North.
“President Roh made the decision, after sufficiently gathering opinions from both proponents and opponents,” said Moon. “Never did he bypass the regular decision-making system and rely on personal channels instead. This is what the Park Geun-hye government should learn from the former Roh administration.”
Meanwhile, Saenuri Party’s former floor leader Rep. Yoo Seong-min, who is from the moderate wing of the conservative party, criticized Moon for his “problematic view” on North Korea.
“I don’t think the rule of majority should be applied to the matter about national security and foreign policy,” said Yoo, “I doubt the decision to abstain from the UN vote would lead to the improvement of North Korea’s human rights condition.”
By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)