[NewsNOW] "The last symbol of the inter-Korean economic cooperation" exploded by land...Should we continue the provocation?

■ Host: Anchor Lee Ha-rin
■ Starring: Bong Young-sik, Specialized Researcher at Yonsei Unification Research Institute, Kim Yeol-soo, Director of Security Strategy at Korea Military Research Institute

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsNOW] when quoting.

[Anchor]
The land route connecting the two Koreas has been completely cut off. As North Korea blew up the Gyeongui Line and the East Sea Line with bombs, the facilities built with our tax money turned into pieces in an instant. Let's talk in detail with experts about what North Korea's intentions are.

Kim Yeol-soo, head of the Security Strategy Division at the Korea Military Research Institute, and Bong Young-sik, a researcher specializing in the Yonsei Unification Research Institute. Welcome. North Korea blew up part of the Gyeongui and East Sea lines connecting the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) north at around 12 p.m. yesterday and around this time. Above all, we have to interpret the symbolic meaning, right?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
Kim Jong-un attended the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea at the end of last year and the Supreme People's Assembly on January 25 this year and delivered a speech there. In fact, since late December last year, we have taken tangible steps to sever inter-Korean relations since we defined it as a cross-border relationship with two countries, two hostile countries.

So, we installed landmine zones, barriers, and even pulled out all the railroad tracks of the Gyeongui and Donghae lines, as well as the sleeper. I got rid of all the streetlights that were around there. As you said yesterday, bombing roads at this hour will completely sever inter-Korean relations. It's a decision to cut it off completely, you can see it like this.

[Anchor]
You interpreted it as the decisive plate of complete disconnection, but I think we should look at the area that was blown up. Please show us the graphic. The starting point of the bombing was 10m away from the MDL of the Military Demarcation Line, and a road 70m long for the Gyeongui Line and 40m for the East Sea Line was blown up.

This is the important point. Whether it's inside or outside the Demilitarized Zone, there was a lot of interpretation at first, but it's a violation of the Armistice Agreement because it blew up inside like that. I need to interpret this part, right?

[Bongyeongsik]
Since North Korea violated the Armistice Agreement today and tomorrow, this bombing is also a violation of the agreement.The UNC will also be concerned about what to do about this in terms of practical effectiveness.

In 2013, Kim Young-chul, the director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, said that he would declare the armistice invalid at this time. Does that mean the Armistice Agreement has been annulled? No. The Armistice Agreement remains in effect until Article 62 is agreed upon by all concerned parties to which all parties have signed a tangential agreement, and replaced it with a peace treaty.

Violation of the Armistice Agreement or declaration of invalidation of the Armistice Agreement in North Korea has no effect on the status of the Armistice Agreement. Let me tell you first that it is a legal, realistic matter.

[Anchor]
It remains to be seen what will happen in the future, but it seems that dozens of pits were dug in the road and explosives were buried one by one, and it is estimated that about 10 kilograms of explosives were installed in each pit. It is said that about 100 people were put into the work, but no electric drill or excavator was detected. Then how did you work on it?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
If we have a road, asphalt covers the top of the road. Underneath it, gravel goes in and the ground is minced to make a road. Then this place next to this road is just dirt. If you remove the dirt, this part will just be separated from the road. There's only this road. Then, you can put explosives and TNT in the soil.

It can be a problem if you put it in one place, but it's possible to put it in about 100 places and blow it up at the same time.

[Anchor]
If there was no electric drill or excavator, do you mean it was done manually?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
It was done manually. We have to wait and see. Originally, it was actually heavy equipment inside the DMZ. You can also see heavy equipment coming in, but heavy equipment shouldn't come in. But I don't understand that such a large vehicle comes in, but I didn't bring an electric drill.

[Anchor]
On the other hand, Chairman Kim Jong-un inspected the site yesterday. A Lexus car was found. These reports are coming out. How should I see the meaning of Chairman Kim Jong-un's visit?

[Bongyeongsik]
I really mean that I gave up on unification and established hostile relations between the two countries. It conveys a message to the residents that they need to take it very seriously and externally. I'll talk to you later.Didn't the North Korean government first make a statement about the drone crisis? But there's an order for this.

Because North Korea is a centralized dictatorship, it is impossible for General Secretary Kim Jong-un to come forward. Since the highest dignity must be taken at the most critical point, the level and subject of the remarks gradually increased when the South Korea-U.S. joint air training was held in October 2022.

At first, it was a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but on November 1st, Park Jeong-cheon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party, spoke, and then Kim Yeo-bu, deputy director, came out and criticized it. And when the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office was bombed in Kaesong in June 2020, Kim Jong-un did not come out due to heightened tensions, but only when he played a good role.

So, the 5th preliminary meeting of the 7th National Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea called for the suspension of the military action plan against the South, and General Secretary Kim Jong-un came out to make a decision. So where will General Secretary Kim Jong-un appear is a matter that the North Korean regime has to decide very carefully. However, the North Korean regime decided to sever relations between the two Koreas to visit the bombing site. It should be seen as a way to inform the residents of it.

[Anchor]
We haven't informed the residents of the bombing. What's the matter with this? [Bong Youngsik] It's to keep the strategic card going. It can be said that there is no preparation for such a revision of the law yet, and as I said earlier, why did you choose the method of TNT explosion? And why did it explode only about 70m on a road over 100km? Don't you have a lot of doubts? It can also be seen that North Korea has been in a hurry.

[Anchor]
You said that you showed it symbolically in a hurry, but North Korea used to blow up roads and major facilities in the past to propaganda against the South. From deceiving the eye to creating peace to increasing military tension, there were various targets. There is also talk of a bombing show over this.

Let's organize them one by one. Let's look at the screen. The first blast drew attention from all over the world. The explosion of the 'Yeongbyun Nuclear Reactor Cooling Tower' in June 2008. Under the 2007 six-party agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, North Korea smashed cooling towers to implement disablement of its nuclear manufacturing facilities, and in return, the United States removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

However, it was later discovered that the abandoned cooling tower had been bombed, and five years later, North Korea announced that it would restart all nuclear facilities and nuclear reactors in Yongbyon. It was confirmed that it was a deceptive tactic to get carrots by creating a peace atmosphere. Did he learn the carrot effect? Chairman Kim Jong-un will also blast denuclearization propaganda after taking power.

In May 2018, he blew up the Punggye-ri nuclear test site for five hours in front of the media, saying he would implement the denuclearization measures agreed at the inter-Korean summit. This is the screen. In November of the same year, a front-line surveillance post and a GP were bombed according to the inter-Korean military agreement.

However, following the recovery of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in 2022, heavy weapons were deployed at surveillance posts last year, and some say that the bombing was a deceptive strategy to deceive the eye. On the other hand, the nature of the bombing will change after 2020 when inter-Korean tensions have risen.

It was an expression of the intention to increase military tensions. The bombing of the South-North Joint Liaison Office in June 2020 is a representative example. This is the screen right now. North Korea, which was criticizing the leaflets against North Korea at the time, said it would abolish the liaison office in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and conducted the bombing without permission 11 days later. It was a performance that marked the beginning of the inter-Korean disconnection.

Analysts say that the blitz of the Gyeongui and Donghae lines is also aimed at promoting the disconnection between the two Koreas and inspiring hostility among North Koreans. We've been organizing all along, but before 2020, it was an explosion to deceive the international community, can you interpret it like this?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
As you said, I think I summarized it very well on YTN. So if you look at that, it's Sung Kim, the U.S. representative in 2008. Sung Kim blew up the cooling tower while he was there. But after five years, it started operating again and is now producing plutonium. In 2018, we invited reporters to Punggye-ri.

So there are a total of four shafts in Punggye-ri, but shaft number 1 has already been closed. So, shaft number 2 is 11 a.m., and shaft number 4 and shaft number 3. I blew it up, but the reason why I blew it up is that I blew up only the entrance. And then you actually have to go into it and blow up the place where you're experimenting, but it's not because you blew up the entrance, so it can be restored right away.

So, I think shafts 2, 3, and 4 are all ready to conduct the 7th nuclear test right now. And in November 2018, North Korea blew up a surveillance post. This, of course, has not been properly verified, but it also blew up only a part of it and not actually blew up what is important to itself.

Nevertheless, it was recently reported in the media that there was a problem with the verification at that time, and like that, it was quickly restored to restore it and closed the NLL. Looking at the normal GP operation, as our anchor said, it's really been a trick bombing, so it can be summarized like this.

[Anchor]
Before 2020, it was a deceptive tactic to deceive the international community, and the bombing of the South-North Joint Liaison Office in June 2020 was also quite shocking. From this point on, the strategy has changed, right?

[Bongyeongsik]
As the anchor said, why does North Korea keep doing bombing shows? You said you learned the carrot effect there. Every time we do a bombing show, they concede. It helps us build our strategic interests. North Korea may have come to this conclusion. But what the North Korean regime needs to know is that the more it does this bombing show, the more it not only increases the carrot effect, but also the so-called shepherd boy effect.

So North Korea completely disabled it, denuclearized it. However, we have no choice but to continue to doubt the authenticity from the outside. Since the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which was completely bombed, is ready to conduct its seventh nuclear test again, how much shock will the Korean people be about this?

It is possible to assume that North Korea has laid the groundwork for a peaceful offensive by reaching out to the South again whenever strategic profit calculations change, because the blast was carried out in a hurry without an excavator, and the length of the blast was also very small. In the end, North Korea's shock provocation, brinkmanship and bombing shows have not been done once or twice, but have been done for nearly 30 years since 1990, so the outside world clearly learned about North Korea's strategic actions.

Therefore, there is a long-term trend that no matter what North Korea does, it will have such a shock effect as intended by North Korea, which is increasingly difficult for the North Korean regime to guarantee.

[Anchor]
You said you had a learning effect after 30 years of bombing shows, but what is the difference between the bombing of the inter-Korean liaison office in 2020 and the bombing of the connection road yesterday?

[Bongyeongsik]
From the North's point of view, we must make concessions to appease how angry the North is in the South. I'm sure they're hoping for this kind of public opinion. However, such public opinion in South Korean society does not necessarily lead in that direction. When the Kaesong Joint Liaison Office was bombed in June 2020, why did the majority of the people build a building there that North Korea does not even consider important with our money?

We need to hold this accountable. And we need to get our taxes back. In this way, negative public opinion has emerged about North Korea and inter-Korean cooperation.

[Anchor]
44.7 billion won is spent on it, and you're filing a lawsuit for damages, right?

[Bongyeongsik]
That's right. If negative public opinion is similarly formed against the North Korean regime this time, North Korea wants one thing. The Korean people should stop the reckless and dangerous Yoon Suk Yeol government's hard-line policy toward North Korea. Vice Minister Kim Yo-jung has said this several times.

According to the statement on November 24, 2022, the South Korean people say that they are stupid enough to live safely and comfortably, and the people do not know why they are watching the regime as it is, which is constantly creating a precarious situation by sitting in the Yoon Suk Yeol. Still, at least Seoul was not our target when the Moon Jae In sat down and cooked.

In a way, the North Korean regime does not have the ability and option to take military action, but the situation is so unfavorable and frustrating that it is appealing to the Korean people in a way. Please stop me. So, paradoxically, the North Korean regime is protesting and threatening in many ways.Ma continues to appeal to the Korean people because he lacks the ability to translate such investigations into practical military action, and appeals to Russia to stop Korea, and Vice Minister Kim Yo-jung says the U.S. should be responsible for the statement.

If you interpret this paradoxically, you can interpret how much the North Korean regime is appealing to the South Korean people, Russia, and the United States to change the South Korean government's North Korea policy if it is difficult.

[Anchor]
You told me about the part where our tax was included, but yesterday, the Ministry of Unification also expressed a hard-line position on this. Let's listen to it first.

[Koo Byung-sam / Ministry of Unification Spokesperson: The Gyeongui and Donghae lines railways and roads are representative inter-Korean cooperation projects that have been carried out since the inter-Korean summit and were constructed through the provision of materials and equipment worth a total of $132.9 million at the request of North Korea. It is emphasized once again that North Korea is responsible for all the bombing of the inter-Korean railway. ]

[Anchor] As you heard
, loans of $132.9 million were provided to our government and about 180 billion won in our money. Simply put, it means that we built it with the money we lent, and we should receive it after all. But can I get it?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
Professor Bong said a little while ago, but when the inter-Korean liaison office was bombed, the Korean government filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court last year. So, although the ruling has not yet been made on this.

[Anchor]
Even if a ruling is issued, it is not easy to accept it.

[Kim Yeolsoo]
We'll probably file a similar lawsuit this time. But the problem is this. As you said, even if the ruling is made like that and the compensation is asked, is North Korea going to do that? Even if it doesn't, what this means now is that North Korea is legally responsible and that it goes down as a record. It's very meaningful because it has that symbolic meaning, so let's look at it like this.

[Anchor]
In the end, this bombing constitutes a violation of the Armistice Agreement, so how should we interpret it in the future as a violation of the UN Security Council or international agreements?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
I think it is necessary to discuss this issue only with the armistice agreement. Of course, the commander of the United Nations Command signed on behalf of our entire UN forces. That's why the UN Security Council can deal with this. But in my view, even if this is addressed, it doesn't mean much because China and Russia will oppose it.

It is necessary to continue to put pressure on North Korea with only the contents of the violation of the Armistice Agreement.

[Anchor]
Anyway, this is where former President Roh Moo Hyun walked by. It's upsetting that the tax is now in pieces, but as it has some symbolic meaning and how to interpret it.

[Bongyeongsik]
The ruling and opposition parties, progressives, and conservatives all have a common will that practical unification is more important than symbolic unification. Since it has been proven once again that improving inter-Korean relations, which can be seen as a slight backsliding in a big way, is not sustainable, isn't that what North Korea is saying and how to think about unification that harmonizes the values and institutions of the Republic of Korea?

Don't use the concept of nation anymore. The concept of ethnicity is no longer meaningful. If so, does the Korean government's unification plan, which was officially adopted before the Cold War, remain such a unification policy that fits the newly changed international situation and Korean social identity? If there is no remaining, how can our government talk about a peaceful and free unified Korea in the future. officially I think it's important to make such preparations.

[Anchor]
As you said, our taxes and symbolic meanings have all become pieces of tissue, and after hearing the news of the bombing, there is a person who said that I can solve this problem alone. Former U.S. President Trump said this yesterday. I'm the only one who can solve this problem. What do you see Trump's inner feelings?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
In the case of President Trump, it is no exaggeration to say that he continues to send love calls to North Korea somehow, but I am doing well with North Korea, Kim Jong-un must be missing me, and isn't it a good thing that he is getting along with a country with nuclear weapons? I was talking about this as an extension of that. That's why President Trump said something when the road blast was carried out by foreign media.

So now President Trump is the candidate. The candidate doesn't just talk about North Korea. If I had been there for Ukraine, the war would not have happened. And he says that I can only do the Hamas war, the problem with Iran, and the Hezbollah problem in Lebanon. I also told North Korea that I may not know if I am omnipotent, but I am the only one who can do it. In the end, I think there was such a purpose to collect votes by being conscious of the voters.

[Anchor]
Former President Trump claiming that all problems can be solved. I also said that Korea is a money machine. Let's listen to what background it came from.

[Donald Trump / Former President of the United States] If I were in the White House now, I would pay $10 billion a year. They would have been willing to do so. Korea is a 'money machine'. ]

[Anchor]
Korea is a money machine. That's why it's a rich country. I'm going to get a lot of defense money, how did you hear it?

[Bongyeongsik]
Trump is the only one who can realize the interests of the United States. A suitable leader, I'd say I've repeated this investigation once again. It's a huge number of 13 trillion won.

[Anchor]
It means that 13 trillion won will be equivalent to nine times the defense cost share agreed upon by South Korea and the U.S. in 2026. It means we have to give it to them. [Bong Young-sik] If I had won re-election, I would have gotten that much from Korea in the past four years, and I would have been willing to pay for Korea.

Because the money machine, South Korea, is such a rich cash machine, I said this, which is very far from reality, but most U.S. voters do not know the details of the Korea-U.S. alliance or the defense cost-sharing agreement, so they prioritize U.S. interests even if it is not a fact-based investigation. It should be seen that voters can sympathize a lot with such Trumpism.

[Anchor]
Does it usually work for sure?

[Bongyeongsik]
It's working. Because don't you say it simply? As you said, I could have received nine times more if I had been re-elected, but the United States lost money. But not many people know how many of them are knocking on the calculator and whether this was possible or just a bluff that wasn't based on real information.

And if you look at the polls of the American people, this is not the most important issue in this presidential election. In this context, with the economy, very murderous inflation, border security, and blocking illegal immigration, I will say that foreign and security issues do not have a great effect to overturn the presidential election.

[Anchor]
I'm looking at the polls now and I think Harris's atmosphere is getting worse.

[Bongyeongsik]
That's right. Joe Biden is a sitting president. After announcing the resignation of the Democratic presidential candidate, current Vice President Kamala Harris, her running mate, became the Democratic presidential candidate and received great momentum and momentum. In particular, the national convention in Chicago was successful. He also won the only presidential debate with Trump in September, gaining ground.

So after the two candidates tied on Aug. 5, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris appeared to lead Trump in the national approval rating survey by about 5 percent, but the gap has narrowed, and now it's about 2 percent to 3 percent. There's such a gap. So the trend has shifted for Republican candidate Trump now.

However, viewers should remember that the U.S. presidential election is not a direct vote like the Korean presidential election. It's a system in which the electors assigned to each state are monopolized by the candidate with the most votes in the state, so it's very important which candidate wins in the seven contending states. In those seven contending states, Kamala Harris was previously leading by September with about four wins, one draw and one loss, but by October, that has turned the tables, and Trump is making strides, especially in the so-called Rust Belt, the Northern Industrial Zone, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where Democrats must win, so they've caught up with Harris and are leading the race. This is the current situation.

[Anchor]
Harris said it's been an urgent three weeks, but finally, what do you think about this opinion that black votes are unusual?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
It's coming out, so there's nothing more to say about it. And Professor Bong summarized it very well and told you everything in general, so I have nothing additionally to say. Instead, I'll just say something about the defense cost-sharing that Trump just talked about and I'll finish it off.

The targets we pay for defense expenses are actually Korean labor costs, the second is military construction costs, BOQs and apartments, and the third is military support costs.

Here, we agreed that the amount of money we have to pay in 2027 is about 1.5 trillion won. But if you say 10 trillion won, you're asking for all 10 trillion won. Are you going to give it to us? You're welcome.
Because the United States now gives all the labor costs to American soldiers and military members with American nationality to the United States budget.

Whether it's U.S. troops in Japan, U.S. troops in Korea, or U.S. troops in Germany, the world is the same. So what else can you get from us? The best thing we can get is that by 2027, we will probably pay about 80% of the military expenses here. Then even if you do the remaining 20%, it's not a lot of money.

If I ask for more money here, I will ask for more money related to the movement of strategic assets, but have you done that? Even if you count it as a maximum, it never exceeds 2.5 trillion or 3 trillion. I think it's very unfortunate that the president of a country can speak without a high-pitched tone such as a money machine or an ATM because he thinks Korea is so sloppy.

[Anchor]
We even analyzed the words of former U.S. President Trump, who claimed that Korea is a money machine. So far, this has been Professor Bong Young-sik and Kim Yeol-soo, head of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Military Research Institute.