A former lawmaker urged Saenuri Party members on Thursday to take responsibility and step down for allegedly exaggerating ex-president Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks on South Korea’s de facto sea border.

“Rep. Chung Moon-hun and Rep. Suh Sang-kee must step down,” Kang Yon-seok, a lawyer and a former member of the ruling Saenuri Party, said on a talk show aired by JTBC.

Chung and Suh had touched off a bipartisan dispute last year when they said Roh gave up the Northern Limit Line to North Korea during a 2007 inter-Korean summit.

The two had vowed to step down if Roh’s comments on renouncing the NLL proved to be nonexistent. Suh even said he would quit if there was “any exaggeration in his words.”

“Even people from the conservative bloc think it is far-fetched to say Roh’s remarks meant he was renouncing the NLL,” Kang said.

In addition, Kang noted the disparity in terminology between the summit’s transcript, which was made public last month by the NIS, and excerpts disclosed separately by the Saenuri Party.

He pointed out that the full transcript shows that Roh had referred to himself as “Na (myself)” while the excepts have Roh calling himself “Jeo,” a Korean word used to show respect to the listener. The excepts also imply that Roh used an honorific title for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, while the transcript shows that Roh simply called his counterpart “Commissioner Kim.”

The conservative bloc had fiercely criticized Roh for showing a submissive attitude to Kim, pointing to the cited words.

Kang also bashed the ruling party for attempting to “flood out” the scandal involving the National Intelligence Service, in which the spy agency is suspected of interfering in last year’s presidential election. The main opposition Democratic Party had accused the Saenuri Party of having ties with the NIS and the alleged election meddling.

The controversy over Roh’s 2007 remarks took the country by storm since the issue was first raised last year amid the presidential race between then-Saenuri candidate Park Geun-hye and DP candidate Moon Jae-in. After much bickering by the Saenuri and DP, the rival parties on Tuesday agreed to view and disclose the original version of the summit transcript.



By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcrop.com)