关闭开城工业园和部署美国防御系统引起了韩国政坛的两极化。
执政党认为这些批评形成了南-南冲突，但反对党认为他们有权力审查国家的外交政策和防务选择。
执政党主席称，主要的反对声音似乎是和朝鲜站在一起并保护它，和这些活动家们以前的行为相比并没有改变多少。
执政党对朝政策倾向于谨慎，而反对党则更考虑双方的发展，已经施压了一些政策，以减少与平壤的敌对。
但执政党对支持政府暂停工业园问题上并不打算后退。称朝鲜将工业园的工人工资用于核武和导弹开发。
反对党议员称，联合工业园是朝韩之间最小的避免半岛冲突的安全保护。并说，4月份立法选举后，将努力重开工业园，并会替换统一部部长。
South Korean President Park Geun-hye's administration is under fire from opposition party lawmakers after the shutdown of a jointly operated factory park in North Korea. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The shutdown of a factory park in North Korea and the debate over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system is polarizing South Korea's politicians.
The ruling Saenuri Party said criticism is creating an internal "South-South" conflict and backlash, but the opposition Minjoo Party said it is well within its right to censure the government's recent foreign policy and national security choices, local television network MBC reported.
Kim Moo-sung, the ruling party chairman, said the "majority of voices in the opposition sound as if they are siding with and defending North Korea, not much has changed from its past activist ways."
The ruling party has leaned more toward caution in its engagement with the North, while the opposition party, often considered the more progressive of the two, has pressed for policy that is less hostile to Pyongyang.
But ruling party lawmakers are not backing down from supporting a recent Seoul decision to suspend operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, citing previous statements that support the claim Pyongyang was using workers' wages to finance its nuclear weapons and missiles program.
The Minjoo Party's Lee Jong-geol disagreed and said the joint Kaesong project was the minimum safeguard against armed conflict between the two Koreas.
In a previous testimony, a North Korean defector in the South told lawmakers the lion's share of the $80 monthly wage the average Kaesong worker received in compensation went to the regime, and that a worker's take-home pay was less than $5 per month.
Lee said Wednesday the shutdown is an example of policy failure and said Seoul's slogan of a "jackpot unification," or promise of economic gain for both sides, has led to division and financial failure, local network SBS reported.
The opposition party lawmaker said after the April legislative elections he would work toward the reopening of Kaesong and added current Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo should be replaced.
Hong had said he has evidence of North Korea's misuse of Kaesong funds but later backtracked on the specific statistics regarding improper use.
