Here is the latest dustup between the Moon administration and the American led United Nations Command:
A feud between the government and the United Nations Command (UNC) seems to be intensifying as the former has complained of a series of recent decisions by the command regarding inter-Korean issues.
Korea Times
Some critics, including senior government officials, say the U.S.-led UNC, which administers the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), has overstepped its authority regarding the Moon Jae-in administration’s peace initiatives on the Korean Peninsula as part of efforts to maintain its presence here.
The latest friction occurred, Tuesday, after the UNC concluded that both South and North Korea violated the Armistice Agreement when they gunfire was exchanged inside the DMZ, May 3, adding that it was unable to determine whether North Korean soldiers fired intentionally or by mistake.
The findings are in stark contrast to the Ministry of National Defense’s conclusion that the shots fired by North Korean troops across the border were accidental, a stance later echoed by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. As a result, the ministry expressed regret over the UNC’s findings immediately after its announcement, saying in a press statement that the command reached its conclusion without a practical investigation of the gunfire from the North.
If there was no evidence to support that it was an accidental firing than that is what the UNC should report. The UNC was doing its job while the Moon administration would rather they support the political position they took on shooting incident.
Of course here come the usual suspects to include North Korea’s favorite bag man Im Jong-seok to condemn the UNC:
Former presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok said in a recent interview with a local magazine that the UNC was trying to exceed its authority.
“The command has to do only what it has to do over entry into and exits from the DMZ and passage over the MDL, but it is acting like it has special rights. This needs to be fixed as soon as possible,” he said.
Moon Chung-in, the special security adviser to President Moon, also said in a media interview, last September, that the UNC was the “biggest barrier” to improving inter-Korean relations.
“The UNC blocks North-South Korean transactions across the DMZ. According to the Armistice Agreement, it only has to administer the DMZ and the MDL. Should it continue doing so, South Korean people may have antipathy toward the command,” he said.
Im Jong-seok makes it seem that the UNC should just be gate guards that allow free passage of anything the Moon administration wants to do to include violating sanctions.
I have been saying that after the April elections that if the Moon administration did not feel like that their was momentum in their inter-Korean strategy that they would eventually play the anti-US card. This may be their first trial balloon towards playing the anti-US card.
It looks like the United Nations Command is not to eager to move forward with the Moon administration’s so called “Peace Park” within the DMZ:
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Monday that South Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC) are cooperating closely to narrow “differences” on how to enforce rules restricting entry to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Kim made the remark during a parliamentary audit in response to a lawmaker’s call for a need to “supplement” UNC regulations on passage in the DMZ that bisect the two Koreas. The UNC has jurisdiction over the area.
“There have been differences in opinions (between the government and the UNC) over matters involving entry to and exit from the DMZ and passage of the MDL (military demarcation line),” Kim told lawmakers. “We are now closely in discussion to narrow the differences.”
“While keeping safety measures in place, I think there should be regulatory supplementation with regard to entry to and exit from the DMZ when it has a non-military nature,” he added. “Under the armistice agreement, the right for permission is confined to things with military character.”
Yonhap
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