Text Fwd: GNP commences national security drive 한나라당 국가 안보 추진 개시

Hankyoreh
GNP commences national security drive
:Observers say the Lee government has moved to dodge criticisms of security incompetence and cite a “quasi-wartime state” to justify railroading legislation
Dec. 11, 2010
By Ahn Chang-hyun, Staff Writer

“Yeonpyeong Island was turned into a sea of fire, yet we have these out-of-their-minds pro-North Korea types and North Korea puppets calling for dialogue to build a permanent peace regime.”

This was the statement made by Grand National Party floor leader Kim Moo-sung during a Nov. 28 meeting with journalists. The “out-of-their-minds pro-North Korea types and North Korea puppets” he referred to were the Democratic Party and other opposition parties. During the National Assembly’s adoption of a resolution denouncing North Korea on Nov. 25, opposition parties had tried to insert a phrase about “building a permanent peace regime,” which was rejected by the ruling GNP.

Following an increased sense of security vulnerability and surging citizen anger about the deaths of civilians following the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, the Lee Myung-bak government launched a national security drive, calling for a hardline military response. This was accompanied by a political offensive pinning responsibility for the national security concerns on the Sunshine Policy of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations. Apparently factoring into this attitude from the Lee government was the determination that it might be possible to use citizen indignation toward North Korea to deal a simultaneous blow to North Korea and the opposition and quell criticisms of the government’s flawed response to the attack.

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