Jung Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said prosecutors should have sought the death penalty for Yoon Suk Yeol, who was asked to be sentenced to 30 years in prison in a first trial over a North Korean drone infiltration case.
Speaking at an on-site Supreme Council meeting in Anseong on the 27th, Jung said that if North Korea had used the incident as a pretext to start even a limited clash, “countless people would have lost their lives.”
Earlier, the special prosecutor for the insurrection case said on the 24th it was seeking a 30-year prison term for Yoon, who is accused of ordering an operation to send drones into Pyongyang.
Jung also noted that it was the eighth anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, saying South and North Korea found a path to pursue peace together eight years ago, but that it “collapsed under Yoon Suk Yeol’s dictatorship.” He added, “We cannot stop the path to peace. War must not break out on the Korean Peninsula.”
“Peace is the economy, and it makes our people richer,” Jung said, adding that under the Lee Jae-myung government there are signs the “Korean Peninsula risk” is easing and shifting toward a “Korean Peninsula premium.”
Jung also urged Choo Mi-ae, the party’s candidate for Gyeonggi governor, Park Chan-dae, its candidate for Incheon mayor, and Woo Sang-ho, its candidate for Gangwon governor, who were selected as candidates in border regions, to “do their best” to manage the situation.
He added that relief payments for damage from high oil prices caused by the Middle East war began that day, saying the Democratic Party would work with the government to ensure the program is carried out without gaps.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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