'Armistice violation, but intent hard to pin down'

'Emphasizing dialogue with North Korea is not submissiveness'

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young removes his glasses during a comprehensive national audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification held at the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young removes his glasses during a comprehensive national audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification held at the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young said it was difficult to establish intent behind a North Korean landmine explosion last month, describing mines as "defensive weapons" while acknowledging that the government views the incident as a violation of the armistice agreement. Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon rebuffed that characterization, asking whether planting mines across someone else's boundary line does not constitute an attack.

At a comprehensive national audit by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday, Han pressed Jeong directly. "You can call it defensive if you plant mines on your own land, but if you cross someone else's fence and plant them in their entryway and bedroom, that is an attack — and doing it in secret is intentional," Han said. "If I sneaked into your home, Minister, and planted a landmine, wouldn't that be a landmine attack?"

Jeong replied that it remained difficult "for the time being" to establish intent, prompting Han to push back further. "The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea crossed into our territory to plant them," Han said. "Why are you speaking as if you were a third party? The Republic of Korea's position and the Unification Minister's position cannot be different."

Jeong said there is only one MDL but two competing claims about where it runs. "Our position is that they were planted 10 meters across the line," he said. "Even so, it is difficult to establish that they were deliberately planted with the intent to carry out a landmine attack."

Jeong maintained a distinction between the government's finding that North Korea's mine-laying violated the armistice agreement and the separate question of whether Pyongyang had deliberately planted the mines to attack the South.

On the intent behind threatening statements issued by Kim Yo-jong and other North Korean officials, Jeong said Pyongyang appeared primarily focused on completing its "border fortification" project on schedule. "They are also signaling an intent to entrench the 'hostile-state relationship' through this," he added.

People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-se had argued that Jeong's emphasis on dialogue in the face of North Korean threats amounted to submissiveness and was humiliating. Jeong rejected that framing, saying the fundamental solution — and one that would benefit both Koreas — was to restore the demilitarized zone to the state it was in before the Sept. 19 military agreement was suspended.


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