Rep. Song Young-keun of the ruling Saenuri Party regards the Northern Limit Line as an official border that Seoul should defend at any cost.

“The Democratic United Party stresses a peaceful coexistence but (the NLL) is a matter of national security over which no compromise should be allowed,” the former chief of Defense Intelligence Command said.

“North Korea had raised no objection for 20 years before it suddenly claimed jurisdiction of Yeonpyeong and the other four islands in the West Sea in 1973.”

Given the strategic importance, it is important to know whether former President Roh Moo-hyun indeed renounced the NLL, behavior which would constitute treason against the nation, the lawmaker said.

“This is not a partisan plot to turn the election tables in the right-wing’s favor but a demand that the DUP play fair and reveal the truth to the people.”

The National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon recently admitted that he held the corresponding meeting minutes.

The disclosure of the documents, however, requires a two-thirds consent of the parliament, which cannot be achieved without the cooperation of the DUP.

“If the officials of the former Roh regime had nothing to hide, they would have offered to reveal the related documents and put an end to the scandal once and for all,” Rep. Song said.

“The DUP, however, chose to blur the issue until after the Dec. 18 presidential election, lest it strike a blow upon Moon who was the presidential chief-of-staff at the time of the summit.”

The former military officer also dismissed the DUP’s suggestion to set up a joint fishing zone.

“According to my experience in the Army, it is only too naive to think that the idea of the fishing zone will help achieve peace,” he said.

All North Korean fishing ships belong to the state and its “fishers” are in fact soldiers dispatched to spy on the South, he claimed.

The lawmaker thus displayed a tougher stance on the issue than the party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye, who earlier claimed that the fishing zone may only be discussed on the premise that North Korea abides by the NLL.

“If we consent to the fishing zone and other North Korean demands, we will end up losing the initiative in the intricate inter-Korean relationship,” Rep. Song said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)