Politics · South Korea · 1 day ago
South Korea opposition calls for unification minister to resign
South Korea’s People Power Party has called for Unification Minister Chung Dong-young to resign.
The party says he has responded too softly to criticism from Kim Yo-jong, a senior North Korean official, including remarks mocking a proposed medical aid plan.
It also criticized Chung’s handling of a mine blast in the Demilitarized Zone that injured a South Korean soldier.
At a parliamentary hearing, Chung said it was too early to identify the blast as a North Korean attack.
North Korea has denied responsibility, and Kim cited Chung’s remarks in its argument.
The opposition party says his comments weaken South Korea’s security position and has urged President Lee Jae-myung to remove him.
The sources do not say whether Chung or the president has responded to the demand.
South Korea’s People Power Party called on Unification Minister Chung Dong-young to resign, accusing him of responding too passively to remarks by North Korean official Kim Yo-jong.
The party’s chief spokesperson, Park Sung-hoon, said Kim had mocked the ministry’s proposal for medical aid to North Korea and criticized Chung for not responding forcefully.
The criticism also focused on Chung’s statement that it was not yet possible to identify a land-mine explosion as a North Korean attack.
The explosion occurred on September 21 and left a South Korean soldier seriously injured, according to the reports.
Other People Power Party lawmakers and the Reform Party also called for Chung’s replacement or changes to the government’s foreign and security leadership.
- Who
- The People Power Party and other opposition politicians criticized Unification Minister Chung Dong-young.
- What
- They called for Chung to resign or be dismissed, citing his response to North Korean remarks and his comments about a land-mine explosion.
- When
- October 10, 2026; the dispute also refers to events on September 21 and October 7–8.
- Where
- South Korea; Chung made the land-mine remarks at a parliamentary audit in Seoul.
- Why
- Opposition politicians said Chung’s remarks and response showed excessive deference to North Korea and harmed national security.
People Power Party and other opposition politicians
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young
Whether the land-mine explosion should be attributed to North Korea
People Power Party and other opposition politicians
Opposition politicians argued that Chung’s statement gave North Korea a way to deny responsibility for the explosion and criticized him for not identifying it as a North Korean attack.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young
At a parliamentary audit, Chung said it was not yet possible to determine that the explosion was a North Korean attack.
Chung’s response to North Korean remarks
People Power Party and other opposition politicians
The People Power Party said Chung had not responded adequately to Kim Yo-jong’s remarks about the ministry’s proposed medical aid and called for his resignation or dismissal.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young
The articles report Chung’s position on the land-mine incident but do not report a response from him to the party’s demands or to Kim’s remarks.
The public cannot entrust national security to a minister who remains passive when North Korea insults us and calls it an ‘accident’ even when our soldiers are seriously injured.
I do not think we can yet identify it specifically as a land-mine attack.
The minister of the country directly affected handed North Korea the knife to use in its rebuttal.
A land-mine explosion occurred, later leaving a South Korean soldier seriously injured.
At a parliamentary audit in Seoul, Chung said the explosion could not yet be specifically identified as a land-mine attack.
Kim Yo-jong said Chung had acknowledged it was difficult to conclude that North Korea had deliberately caused the explosion.
The People Power Party called for Chung to resign or be dismissed, and other opposition politicians criticized him and the government’s security leadership.
- Minister
- Chung Dong-young, South Korea’s unification minister
- North Korean official
- Kim Yo-jong, identified in the reports as a director of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s General Affairs Department
- Land-mine explosion
- Occurred on September 21, 2026
- Chung’s audit statement
- Made on October 7, 2026, at a parliamentary audit in Seoul
- Call for resignation
- Made by the People Power Party on October 10, 2026
Sources
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