KimInvestigation of Lower Level Proposal to Kim Jong Il

On the fourth, the government began an investigation into the real facts concerning the temporary cancellation of the ninth reunion of families separated between North and South Korea that came about in response to Kim Jong Il by a junior official of the Unification Department.

The Unification Department made it known that it would investigate the circumstances under which this junior official made this proposal that concerned problems of the Vice Minister of the Unification Department, Cho Gun-sik, and that if there was any wrongdoing, he would be reprimanded.

At an emergency press conference on the third, the Minister of the Unification Department Jung Se-hyun said, “Until we investigate the circumstances involved both before and after the proposal was made, it would be inappropriate for the Department to comment on a reprimand of the party involved.”

On the second, at the reunion grounds of Kum Kang Mountain, this junior official suggested to North Korean officials in the phrase “General Kim Jong Il, a general originating from heaven,” that his origins were really from the lower classes. By doing so, he incited the opposition of the North Koreans.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com