Joo Ho-young: "The Ruling Party Proposes a Resolution on North Korea Tourism While Saying They Will Condemn... Will They Properly Condemn?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized the failure to adopt the resolution condemning North Korea, saying, "It is because the Democratic Party of Korea proposed to significantly revise the condemnation resolution," and added, "Can a party that intends to submit a resolution on North Korean tourism in the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on the day of proposing a condemnation resolution properly condemn North Korea?"

In an interview on the morning of the 29th with YTN Radio's 'Hwang Bo-seon's Starting Morning,' Floor Leader Joo said, "The Democratic Party suggested significantly revising the condemnation resolution that was passed in the Defense Committee just because North Korea sent an apology document."

Regarding the Democratic Party's claim that the failure to adopt the condemnation resolution was due to the People Power Party reversing its proposal to adopt only the resolution without the urgent current affairs questioning, he said, "The Democratic Party is too shameless," and added, "If they revise it, it will no longer be a condemnation. It's pointless and rather a resolution that helps North Korea's position, so we cannot agree to it."

Floor Leader Joo explained, "On the day we proposed the condemnation resolution, the party also submitted a resolution urging a declaration to end the war and a resolution on North Korean tourism in the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee," and said, "How could those people have intended to properly adopt a genuine condemnation resolution? That's why it failed."

The Democratic Party insisted on removing the phrase 'burned the bodies' from the resolution, but the People Power Party opposed this. Floor Leader Joo said, "The resolution passed by agreement in the first Defense Committee included the part about burning the bodies, but since North Korea claimed they did not burn the bodies but only the debris, the Democratic Party insisted on removing that part," and emphasized, "However, the part about burning the bodies was confirmed by our Ministry of National Defense based on special intelligence (SI)."

He said, "The Ministry of National Defense reported that they confirmed North Korea instructed to burn the bodies with fuel, but since North Korea denies it, they want to believe North Korea's words," and added, "The Democratic Party's real intention is that they have no intention of adopting the condemnation resolution but do not want to take responsibility, so they try to pass it off as if we refused it. Why would we refuse a condemnation resolution against North Korea?"