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Liberty Korea Party floor leader Na Kyung-won speaks during a meeting of party leaders at the National Assembly on Nov. 27. (Kim Gyoung-ho, staff photographer)

According to a news report, Liberty Korea Party (LKP) floor leader Na Kyung-won told the US some time ago that holding a North Korea-US summit before next year’s parliamentary elections in South Korea would not help security on the Korean Peninsula and might even distort the purpose of the summit. The remarks have set off a political firestorm since they could be interpreted as asking the US to postpone its a summit with North Korea until after the next parliamentary elections.

After South Korean broadcaster YTN reported on Nov. 27 that Na had asked Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea, not to hold a summit with North Korea before South Korea’s parliamentary election during her visit to the US in the previous week, Na released a statement in which she clarified that “I only communicated my concerns about holding a North Korea-US summit before the parliamentary election, and I didn’t ask them not to do so.”

“I didn’t say anything about that during meetings in my most recent visit to the US. It’s true, however, that I communicated my concerns about holding a North Korea-US summit before the parliamentary elections to former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton when he visited South Korea this past July,” Na said.

“The first North Korea-US summit in Singapore had an enormous impact on South Korea’s local elections in 2018, which were held one day later. If the third summit is held shortly before the parliamentary elections, it could distort the very purpose of that summit.”

The pushback from the Blue House was vociferous. “I could hardly believe my ears when I heard that that [Na] regards even public security matters as fodder for her own political gain. Seeing her respond to the publication of her remarks not with embarrassment but with audacity is not only disappointing but angering and makes one wonder if she’s actually a citizen of the Republic of Korea,” Blue House Spokesperson Ko Min-jung said in a written statement to the press.

“This raises the question of whether the only thing in Na’s mind is the election, with no thought for the Korean people or state. If she doesn’t want to be remembered as a historical villain, she should immediately retract what she said,” Ko added.

The Democratic Party also released a statement describing Na’s remarks as “astonishing” and “horrifying” and calling on her to “show her sincere remorse before the state and the people.”

By Kim Won-chul and Jang Na-rye, staff reporters

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