DP floor leader calls for Yoon's efforts to curb inter-Korean tensions

▲ Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, floor leader of the Democratic Party, speaks during a party leadership meeting held at the National Assembly in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2024. (Yonhap)

DP floor leader-NK provocations

DP floor leader calls for Yoon's efforts to curb inter-Korean tensions

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- The floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) called on President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday to try to open dialogue with North Korea, citing concerns chances of war are greater than ever before.

Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo made the remarks, hours after the North said it test-fired the submarine-launched cruise missile Pulhwasal-3-31 the previous day. The firing came just days after the North tested the newly developed missile for the first time last week.

The North has been ratcheting up tensions with a series of weapons tests and bellicose rhetoric, with leader Kim Jong-un defining the South as a "primary foe" and "invariable enemy," and vowing to completely occupy the South in the event of war.

"We hope President Yoon Suk Yeol will take seriously concerns at home and abroad that the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula suggests that chances of war are greater now than at any time," Hong said during a party leadership meeting.

"What we have to do now is to take care of the crisis and make efforts to open at least a minimum dialogue channel to ensure a small misunderstanding does not lead to war, while refraining from confrontational words and acts," he said.

Hong said the United States and China have also been trying to manage tensions, citing a recent meeting between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok over the weekend.

"It is only the Yoon Suk Yeol government that does not do this," he said.

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