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S. Korean lawmakers wrangle over DPRK nuke program

Xinhua, September 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean lawmakers on Tuesday wrangled once again over how to resolve the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program following its latest nuclear test earlier this month.

Opposition lawmakers called for the resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang, while ruling party members demanded stronger sanctions and the deployment of a U.S. missile shield on South Korean soil.

Kim Boo-kyum, member of the main opposition Minjoo Party, said during the first day of the parliamentary interpellation session that sanctions-only approach, which has been pursued by South Korean governments in the past eight years, proved to have failed, according to Yonhap news agency.

Citing the May 24 sanctions and the shutdown of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Kim said new approach should be pursued such as a gradual denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, normalized diplomatic relations between the DPRK and the United Sates and the agreement of peace treaty between the two Koreas.

The peninsula is technically in a state of war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with armistice treaty, not peace treaty.

The May 24 sanctions were adopted in May 2010 by then Lee Myung-back administration after a South Korean navy corvette sank in waters by what Seoul claimed was a DPRK torpedo attack. Pyongyang has denied any involvement in the incident.

The Park Geun-hye government closed down the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong following the fourth nuclear test by the DPRK in January.

It was the last remaining inter-Korean economic cooperation project after the May 24 sanctions severed all economic ties between the two Koreas.

The opposition lawmaker said the South Korean government should mull the dispatching of a special envoy to the DPRK to ease tensions on the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Kim Seong-tae of the ruling Saenuri Party called for an immediate deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in response to growing nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang.

Seoul and Washington agreed in July to install one THAAD battery by the end of next year despite strong oppositions from many of its own people and from neighboring countries. Enditem