"The purpose of disconnecting North Korea's land route and blocking the outflow"...a dispute over North Korea policy between the ruling and opposition parties

"North Korea's land disconnection, self-isolation...Internal Escape Prevention Purpose"

Ruling and opposition parties disagree on North Korea policy...People's Power "Needs a Hard Response"

Opposition "Rising the Risk of War...South Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation, isolation of the Korean Peninsula"

[Anchor]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a parliamentary audit of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee that the North's intention to officially cut off the inter-Korean land route was intended to prevent the leakage of internal personnel.

Both the ruling and opposition parties agreed that tensions had risen due to a series of measures, including North Korea's continued spraying of garbage balloons and hostile two-state theories, but differed on the solution.

Reporter Kim Dae-gyeom's report.

[Reporter]
Kim Myung-soo, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who attended the parliamentary inspection of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, called the recent announcement of a land cutoff by the North's general staff a measure of self-isolation.

He then analyzed that North Korea's measures had already started last year and were completed in August, and that they were made official to secure legitimacy belatedly.

In particular, he added that the construction of a barrier near the Demilitarized Zone is proof that the Kim Jong-un regime is afraid, and that it is intended to prevent internal personnel from escaping.

[Kim Myung-soo / Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: I think it's a measure to block the regime's fear from entering the outside world and to block internal personnel from leaking to the outside world and escaping.]

Both the ruling and opposition parties agreed that the North Korean measures increased the level of tension between the two Koreas, but they differed on the solution.

People's Power called for a "hard-line response," saying North Korea is using inter-Korean disconnection measures for internal solidarity and that provocations will continue in the future, but

[Kang Sun-young / People's Power Congressman]: Building a peace regime without fighting is not just not fighting in a subservient position, but a state in which the enemy is afraid of provocations with the ability and will that the other party does not dare to cross....]

Opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, criticized that the risk of war is higher than ever due to the growing tensions in the Yoon Suk Yeol government, and that cooperation between Korea, the U.S. and Japan has not properly taken care of the real benefits of our side.

[Huh Young / Minjoo Party member: Our country will be at the forefront of checking North Korea, China and Russia. It's going to be a shield for Japan. The Korean Peninsula is in the middle of a war of hegemony between the U.S. and China..]

In the process of criticizing the current government's North Korea policy, there was a loud voice over the term "war maniac."

[Boo Seung-chan / Minjoo Party Member: The most important thing is to contain the war. If the Joint Chiefs of Staff overlooks this part, they have no choice but to go to war fanatics in the end, the two Koreas.]

[Kim Myung-soo / Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Didn't you say it could be seen as a war fanatic? It's not the concept of war against the North....]

{Boo Seung-chan / Democratic Party of Korea member : I said this out of concern, did I say that about our soldiers as a war fanatic?]

The ruling and opposition parties also argued over the truth of the announcement at the time that the North had destroyed the underground facilities of a front-line surveillance post in response to the September 19 inter-Korean military agreement under the former Moon Jae In administration.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff predicted that North Korea would continue its war of attrition by continuing to send garbage balloons in the future, and said that they do not think very highly of the possibility of a war with North Korea at this time.

I'm YTN's Kim Daegyeom.

Reporter:
Filming: Woo Young-taek
Video editing: Lee Eun-kyung