Lee Jong-bae of the People Power Party criticized the publication of a unification white paper that he said fully reflects North Korea's "two-state theory." Lee said Minister Chung Dong-young of the Ministry of Unification should be dismissed immediately.
In a Facebook post on the 18th, Lee said, "In this year's unification white paper, the Ministry of Unification formalized inter-Korean relations as 'in effect, two states' and presented 'peaceful coexistence,' not unification, as the core principle of the new North Korea policy," adding, "This unification white paper violates the Constitution of the Republic of Korea and can only be interpreted as abandoning the citizens of the Republic of Korea residing in North Korea who have suffered for decades under the Kim Jong-un family."
Lee cited Article 3 of the Constitution, which defines the territory of the Republic of Korea as the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands, and Article 4, which states that the Republic of Korea seeks unification.
Lee criticized, "Right up until just before, Democratic Party politicians upheld national unification as a golden rule and made it their political identity," adding, "Then why did they uncritically accept North Korea leader Kim Jong-un's two-state theory for the Korean Peninsula the moment it was put forward?"
He added, "President Lee Jae-myung should immediately dismiss Minister Chung Dong-young, who violated the Constitution, and revise the unification white paper."