[Anchor]

At the Armed Forces Day ceremony, President Lee Jae-myung referred to the landmine explosion incident as an "unforeseen accident" and made no mention of North Korea's responsibility. Toward North Korea, he stated that he hopes it will join the path of restoring severed dialogue.

Kang Min-u reports.

[Reporter]

In his address commemorating the 78th Armed Forces Day yesterday (October 1), President Lee Jae-myung spoke about the landmine explosion incident on the western front as follows:

[President Lee Jae-myung: It still breaks my heart when I think of our service members who were injured in an unforeseen accident in the Demilitarized Zone not long ago.]

He extended words of comfort and gratitude to the soldiers, saying that it makes us realize once again that the ordinary days we enjoy rest upon someone else's danger, but he did not directly mention holding North Korea accountable.

Instead, he emphasized that he would patiently untangle the intricately knotted inter-Korean relations,

[President Lee Jae-myung: I expect and urge the North Korean side to now join us on the path to restoring trust and resuming severed dialogue.]

He also stated that the two Koreas must build trust for peace on the Korean Peninsula, adding that trust is only built when words and actions align:

[President Lee Jae-myung: We will consistently pursue practical measures to lower military tensions between the South and the North.]

While refraining from direct criticism of North Korea, he placed emphasis on the "consistency" of tension-easing measures, which is also interpreted as indicating that measures that would raise inter-Korean tensions, such as "resuming loudspeaker broadcasts," will not be kept on the table.

Marking Armed Forces Day, the Democratic Party staged a picketing demonstration, strongly condemning what it called North Korea's clear provocation that trampled on the armistice agreement, while the People Power Party criticized President Lee, saying he failed to hold North Korea accountable for violating the armistice agreement and instead talked about an "unforeseen accident."

(Video by Jeong Sang-bo and Ha Ryung | Video Editing by Nam Il)