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Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong (left) and Minister of Unification Lee In-young (right) answer questions from lawmakers during a joint parliamentary audit of their respective ministries by the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Thursday. (Yonhap News)

South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong fired back at opposition party lawmakers’ criticisms of the administration’s “complacent” response to North Korea’s test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Tuesday.

“The SLBM that our administration has succeeded [in developing] is far superior in its performance to the SLBM launched by North Korea,” he replied.

During a combined parliamentary audit of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Unification by the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Thursday, Chung was repeatedly asked by People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Lee Tae-kyu whether he viewed the North Korean SLBM launch as a “strategic provocation.”

Chung avoided giving an immediate reply, affirming only that the administration was “taking it seriously.”

“Our determination is that the South Korean armed forces’ capabilities are enough to defend against the SLBM capabilities [demonstrated by] North Korea with this test launch,” he said.

“The clear standard for a ‘strategic provocation’ is something we determine based on whether something is capable of having a very serious impact on the overall security situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

The same day, Minister of Unification Lee In-young also commented on the North Korean SLBM test.

“Why isn’t North Korea conducting nuclear tests or launching ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles]? You could see that as meaning that it doesn’t want a complete disaster,” he said.

“In another sense, it appears to be exploring dialogue,” he added.

His remarks came in response to a question from PPP lawmaker Thae Yong-ho, who asked whether it was “appropriate” for a senior Ministry of Unification official to have suggested the day before that the North Korean SLBM test launch was meant to “explore the conditions for dialogue.”

It was a tense faceoff between opposition lawmakers on the one hand — with their criticisms of the administration’s decision-making and response and their claims that the North Korean SLBM could be a “game changer” once deployed — and the two ministers on the other, with their attempts to explain the legitimacy of the administration’s efforts to keep the Korean Peninsula situation on a stable footing.

The audit that day also saw a debate over the administration’s position on the calls from Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee Vice Department Director Kim Yo-jong and other North Korean officials for South Korea and the US to remove their “double-dealing standards.”

“North Korea’s show of military force was clearly in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and international law,” Chung acknowledged, while also stressing that the “weapons systems that South Korea is developing fall within the framework of international law.”

“North Korea’s calls for ‘removing double standards’ are unacceptable,” he reaffirmed.

At the same time, he indicated that discussions on North Korea’s position could be held in the context of the inter-Korean joint military committee.

Commenting on South Korea-Japan relations the same day, Chung said there had been “some progress in dialogue with Japan.”

“We will make our best efforts,” he added.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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