People Power Party Urges Government Response to North Korea's Military Provocation: "GSOMIA Must Be Normalized"

Joo Ho-young Floor Leader "Proposes Adopting a Resolution Condemning North Korean Provocations to the Democratic Party"
Seong Il-jong Policy Committee Chairman "We Must Show Overwhelming Military Superiority to North Korea"

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the party strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 4th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] The People Power Party condemned North Korea's continued military provocations and urged the government to respond.

On the morning of the 4th, Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the party's floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly, "Regarding North Korea's provocations, we proposed to the Democratic Party of Korea to adopt a resolution condemning North Korea's provocations, and we received a positive response from the Democratic Party and are currently preparing the draft," adding, "These provocations are new and reckless, so we are united in condemning them and requesting the government to respond appropriately and manage the situation properly."

Along with this, Sung Il-jong, the chairman of the People Power Party's Policy Committee, stated, "While we cannot expect humanity from North Korea, we have once again confirmed North Korea's ruthless violence," and pointed out, "They have shown themselves to be a force threatening world peace and the safety of the Republic of Korea."

Chairman Sung emphasized, "North Korea used the ROK-US joint military exercises as a pretext, but not only the people of the Republic of Korea but the entire world knows it is for conducting the 7th nuclear test," and added, "The only way to protect the people of the Republic of Korea from North Korea's absurd claims and military provocations is to establish a firmer security posture and demonstrate overwhelming military superiority to North Korea."

He continued, "Extending the period of Vigilant Storm, the ROK-US joint air exercise, and maintaining a solid ROK-US combined defense posture is a very desirable decision."

Representative Tae Yong-ho, the ruling party's ranking member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, argued for the need to accelerate the normalization of GSOMIA. Representative Tae said, "At the Foreign and Security Committee of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union General Assembly held yesterday, our party members advocated for the prompt realization of a Korea-Japan summit, strengthening security dialogue, and the swift normalization of GSOMIA to be reflected in the joint statement. While the summit normalization and security dialogue strengthening were included, the GSOMIA normalization issue was not included in the final statement because the general assembly included members from five Japanese parties and four Korean parties," explaining, "GSOMIA was destroyed by the Moon Jae-in administration in an instant, but restoring it to normal takes such a long time and effort."

He added, "It is fortunate that the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union has resumed, putting Korea-Japan relations on the path to normalization," and said, "As the international trend of globalization shifts back to bloc formation and a new Cold War begins in East Asia, the ROK-US-Japan security cooperation system must be normalized again to jointly and effectively respond to the North Korean nuclear threat. We must accelerate the normalization of GSOMIA as an urgent matter."