Debate Over Landmine Blast Response at UN Audit; Controversy Arises Over Ambassador's Expertise

[Anchor]

A parliamentary audit of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations was held early this morning (October 14) in New York, USA. Debates ensued over the controversy regarding the UN ambassador's expertise and the handling of the landmine explosion incident.

Correspondent Kim Hyunwoo reports from New York.

[Reporter]

During the parliamentary audit of the Permanent Mission to the UN, lawmakers from the People Power Party questioned the appointment process of UN Ambassador Cha Jihoon right from the start.

Mentioning that Ambassador Cha Jihoon, who was in the same Judicial Research and Training Institute cohort as President Lee Jae-myung, served as an advisory lawyer for Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and represented cases related to President Lee, they repeatedly raised suspicions that it might be a reward-based appointment.

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon pointed out that Ambassador Cha Jihoon's daughter, who works in the United States, is living with him at the official residence, asking if the public would not find that unusual.

[Han Dong-hoon / Independent Lawmaker: You have zero diplomatic experience. Why did an amateur apply for a position where only the ultimate professionals should come as UN ambassador?]

Ambassador Cha Jihoon responded that there are many ambassadors at the UN who are not career diplomats and that he is working faithfully in his own way.

The ruling party actively came to his defense.

[Maeng Sung-gyu / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Please respond proactively so that there are no setbacks in carrying out your duties due to a lack of expertise. You should do it with confidence.]

Questions also followed during the audit on whether our UN mission made efforts to ensure the landmine explosion incident could be addressed at the UN Security Council level.

Lawmaker Kim Gunn of the People Power Party, a former diplomat, stated that the landmine explosion incident is a serious issue that violated the armistice agreement and asked if there are plans to discuss it in the UN Security Council. In response, Ambassador Cha stated that the government has not yet decided how to approach the matter.

Meanwhile, regarding the admission made by Ambassador to the US Kang Kyung-wha at yesterday's parliamentary audit that there are limitations in communication with the US, the Embassy in the US explained today that differences of opinion are bound to exist between nations, and the process of narrowing and managing those differences is also necessary.

(Camera Reporter: Lee Hee-hoon, Video Editing: Jeon Mingyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.