Embassy says remarks stressed armistice violation

Says comments unrelated to specific wording used by government

Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha speaks at a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee national audit held at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha speaks at a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee national audit held at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

South Korea's embassy in Washington said Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha's remarks at a recent national audit about a North Korean landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone were intended to emphasize that the mine that wounded South Korean soldiers "was determined to be a typical North Korean military mine deliberately planted, not one that had drifted from its original position."

The embassy said Tuesday that "in accordance with the Joint Chiefs of Staff's final investigation findings, the explosion was caused by a mine that North Korean forces deliberately planted south of the MDL, and the ambassador made the relevant remarks in the course of emphasizing that this constitutes a violation of the Armistice Agreement."

The embassy went on to say that "the remarks were in no way intended to address whether a specific expression previously used by our government was appropriate." It added, however, that "the government will hold North Korea clearly accountable for its violation of the Armistice Agreement and the harm done to our soldiers, while at the same time pursuing efforts to ease tensions and restore trust on the Korean Peninsula."

The "specific expression previously used by our government" that the embassy referenced is widely interpreted as referring to President Lee Jae Myung's description of the incident as an "unexpected accident" in his Armed Forces Day address on Oct. 1, in which he also offered condolences to the wounded soldiers and their families.

At the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee national audit on Tuesday, Kang was asked about her position on the landmine explosion and said, "As a citizen and as ambassador, I feel deeply pained by the harm done to our troops." She added, "Based on what the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced, these were mines that were installed — and in a case like this, they were installed with intent. In that sense, I do not consider this an unexpected accident."

The embassy also addressed Kang's remarks at the national audit regarding "high-level communication with the White House," saying the comments were made "in the sense that communication is not happening as much as she would like, and that she hopes it can be closer and more frequent."

The embassy then said the remarks reflected "the ambassador's own high level of ambition when it comes to Korea-US communication, and her intention to work harder to meet that standard — they were in no way meant to suggest that there are difficulties in existing Korea-US communication channels."


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