MPK leader urges Chinese ambassador to stop supporting North Korea

MPK leader urges Chinese ambassador to stop supporting North Korea. June. 08, 2016 07:23. by 차길호기자 kilo@donga.com. Rep. Kim Jong-in, the interim leader of the Minjoo Party of Korea, requested for a more responsible support from China to implement sanctions on North Korea. He invited Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong to the National Assembly on Tuesday for a meeting. Ambassador Qiu had "warned" Kim on THAAD arrangement during his meeting with Kim in February.

At the recent meeting held upon request by the Minjoo Party of Korea, Kim mentioned that “China’s siding with North Korea would not help resolve or improve the inter-Korean relationship,” calling for the Chinese government to “seek for new solutions (other than the six-party talks).” Mr. Qiu responded by answering that China still believes that the six party talks are the best multilateral tool to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issues,” while emphasizing that “we are strongly opposed to North Korea’s nuclear program.” In the following closed meeting, Mr. Kim continued to complain that “exchanges between China and North Korea are still ongoing, hampering effective implementation of sanctions against the North.”

Such words are deemed as a counter-attack against Mr. Qiu’s February comments. At that time, the ambassador "threatened" Mr. Kim, by saying, “If the THAAD issue poses any harm to China’s national security, efforts to improve bilateral relationships could be destroyed.” This triggered a controversy over whether it was diplomatically appropriate. The ruling Saenuri Party claimed that “our nation’s sovereignty was denied,” criticizing Kim for simply responding “we should carefully judge the benefits of employing the THAAD system.”

“Ambassador Qiu showed a more cautious attitude, probably conscious of the controversy after his last visit,” said a party official.