Lee Hoi Chang, the leader of the minority Liberty Forward Party (LFP) attacked the UN Security Council’s Presidential Statement on the Cheonan incident today, calling it, “A fistfight with the air.”
In a meeting with the LFP executive, Lee explained, “The UNSC Presidential Statement deplores the attack and urges someone to take proper, peaceful measures but does not point out who the assailant was or who the someone is.”
“Due to China and Russia as members of the UN Security Council, they have produced a fruitless and ineffective result. That’s a huge pity,” and added, “There is no mention at all of any sanctions should a similar problem happen again.”
Lee also harshly criticized the Lee Myung Bak administration’s diplomatic efforts, saying, “It is an excuse of the weak to accept the Presidential Statement as an achievement for its diplomacy after failing to point to North Korea as the criminal.”
He worried that, “The thing to be most cautious about is that some say we should wrap up the Cheonan incident at this point, since UNSC has produced a Presidential Statement. But if we do that, it will be a complete victory for North Korea, just as the North’s ambassador said immediately after the statement was released.”
Regarding the issue of the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, Lee claimed, “Even though the thing was ended up in a UNSC Presidential Statement, we have still work to do: to get North Korea’s apology and punishment of the relevant persons. We have to demand these constantly. We must not restart the Six-Party Talks without completing these things.”
In a meeting of executive members of the Grand National Party on the 9th, lawmaker Hwang Jin Ha said, “The Cheonan incident is an explicit provocation by North Korea and the international community has a common opinion on countermeasures.” Additionally he emphasized, “The South’s administration has to do its best to take all kinds of measures to prevent a reoccurrence of similar incidents with the assistance of the international community and the UN.”
