[New Square 10] Iran, Israel Missile Attack...U.S. vice presidential candidate TV debate

■ Host: Anchor Park Seok-won
■ Starring: Bong Young-sik, a professional researcher at Yonsei Unification Research Institute

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 10AM] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Iran's attack on Israel's mainland is at its peak in the Middle East.

Attention is also focusing on how the situation in the Middle East will affect the U.S. presidential election, which is about a month away.

I'll make a diagnosis with a specialist.

Bong Young-sik, a professional researcher at Yonsei Unification Research Institute, is here. Please come in.

Let's start with the situation in the Middle East. This part of Iran's participation in the war drew a lot of attention, and it fired more than 180 missiles over the past night. Why do you think you launched it at this point?

[Bongyeongsik]
For Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are dealing with Israel, and they can't just sit on their hands. Since it has continued to serve as a backbench for the resistance to Israel. I see.Ma was removed by Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut airstrikes and killed by Israeli supplies. And the beep bomb. The radio pager explosion killed a number of Hezbollah personnel, and before that, on April 1, they bombed the Iranian Embassy in Syria, Israel, and one of the three heads of Hamas, Ismael Haniyeh, was killed while attending the inauguration of the Iranian president. In this way, all-out Israeli military action against Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran stands still for fear of an all-out war, and there is no basis for it to serve as a suzerain for Hezbollah, Hamas and other anti-Israel forces. But at the same time, if Iran escalates this into an all-out war with Israel in every sense, it ends up falling into the trap that Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, wants.

Moderate President Pejeshikyan, who was elected this time, is likely to talk directly with the U.S. to restore the nuclear agreement. Because Iran's economy is in a very difficult state, didn't the moderate president win the free election like this? And in August, Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei, also made positive comments here. There is no harm in talking to the enemy. So Iran is now trying to negotiate a real deal with the United States in a new framework, which is a very concerning situation for Israel's Netanyahu government. So, we need to develop a situation that somehow keeps the U.S.-Iran relationship at a loss to maintain Israel's strategic position and ensure the survival of Netanyahu's regime in a very difficult position. The Netanyahu regime must continue to lead the Israeli-Hamas war that started in Gaza as bad as possible, leading to a full-scale, direct conflict between Iran and the U.S., and the U.S. and Iran, which are well aware of this, are making all-out efforts to minimize escalation in any way possible.

[Anchor]
Should I say it's part of that? The U.S. also told Israel to refrain from doing so, but Iran attacked, so the U.S. defended it. How do I look at this?

[Bongyeongsik]
So it's about maintaining a very difficult situation. In the Park Geun Hye government, the senior economic secretary was criticized during the tax reform, so it was possible to pull out the goose's hair without hurting the goose. So the United States and Israel, while avoiding direct conflict in some way, the United States continues to do that, supporting Israel's right to defend itself, and Iran is acting sufficiently responsible for the anti-Israel forces as a suzerain state. You're walking a very difficult tightrope that proves this. So Iran shot about 180 missiles against Israel, didn't it? Iran called this a very successful action. However, there were no casualties or significant military damage on the Israeli side.

[Anchor]
I heard there are a few people who have minor injuries.

[Bongyeongsik]
That's right. The Iranian government and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are very successful. We've done our job. He said he scolded Israel, and from the U.S. standpoint, Iran retaliated, so Israel should be cautious. To prevent damage to Israel, the U.S. has fulfilled its responsibilities to Israel as a security partner, and we provide each other with a basis for claiming that.

[Anchor]
From the perspective of the United States, the methods of mediation seem very ambiguous, but as the presidential election is now approaching, it is emerging as the biggest issue in the presidential election. I saw it in the report earlier, but in the case of Trump, he points out that this is the absence of leadership. How do you think this issue will flow to the presidential election?

[Bongyeongsik]
For the Democratic Party, this is a situation where there are stones in the shoes. If the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza somehow enters a blackout, there will be some room for excuse for the incompetence and criticism that is pouring into the Biden administration. But as I said earlier, that is not what the Israeli government wants. After the war, the Netanyahu government cannot avoid the fall and judicial responsibility because of the regime's failure to properly deal with Hamas' airstrikes on the 7th. So for the Netanyahu government, even if it somehow loses Israel's national interest, the regime must continue to fight. So, CBS, we're doing it right now.That was the first question at the presidential debate between Ma and vice presidential candidates. Would you support Israel's preemptive strike rights if you, and your running mate, won the presidential election? The Democratic vice presidential candidate gave a general answer to this, and surprisingly, Trump's running mate showed a clear attitude to win the votes of Jewish people and American voters by saying that he would support Israel's preemptive strike, which is a matter for the Israeli government and the military to decide on their own.

[Anchor]
In a way, Trump's side has said something a little closer to Israel, so where is it advantageous? Is it in Trump's favor or Harris' favor?

[Bongyeongsik]
It's very unfavorable for Kamala Harris, a Democrat who continues to be vice president in the Biden administration. Because the Biden administration was incompetent. Look. What kind of disputes have happened in Israel, the Middle East during Trump's first four years. Did Russia invade Ukraine? When you ask what kind of provocative actions North Korea has taken, it's not true. But under the Biden administration, it was fake peace. Inside, they said they just left the aggravation of the bubbling up, but even if Trump and JD Vance said so, didn't everything happen in the end? Nothing happened. Then that's peace, which is peace. So why could there be so many armed conflicts in three and a half years and Kamala Harris, who was vice president at the time, have not been able to convince President Biden to build peace in the Middle East, peace in Russia, and peace on the Korean Peninsula if he had such a good idea. I'm constantly being pushed back by the offensive.

[Anchor]
Also, I wonder how the expansion of mass production will affect the two candidates.

[Bongyeongsik]
Less than 2 percent of Jewish voters, and less than 3 percent of Muslim voters. But the last thing you should look at is that the Biden administration was incompetent in this, and it failed to deal with it properly. Therefore, from candidate Trump's point of view, Trump can be trusted more by voters overall, not Jewish or Muslim voters, that they will solve this problem if I am elected. It's more like a leader. It is helping to strengthen this awareness.

[Anchor]
Since Warnak Harris and Trump are neck and neck, I think this is also drawing attention to whether the vice president's TV debate, which is being held now, will destroy the counterweight. How do you look at it?

[Bongyeongsik]
A landslide victory in the vice presidential debate does not guarantee that the team will win the presidential election. Because in the 1988 presidential election, the Republican vice presidential candidate was really so-called smashed, but George W. Bush was elected. The election strategy put forward by the Republican side at that time is very similar to the strategy that Trump and JD Vance teams now do against Tim Walz and Harris teams. We may have a problem, but the Democratic presidential team over there is a socialist. It's too dangerous. be vulnerable to crime Mike, the Democratic presidential candidate at the time, lost because he talked about human rights and releasing criminals, causing unrest in society. Again, in that way, Trump continues to talk about Vice President Kamala Harris as a communist from her father's economist, right? California native. Because of this kind of frame, the two vice presidential candidates are playing a very difficult role right now.


You have to continue to play the role of a fighting dog, an attack dog, and a protective dog because you have to play two roles to highlight the strengths of your candidate and your running mate and compensate for your weaknesses. In that sense, when it comes to Trump's verbal attacks and other contingent actions, JD Band's running mate, Republican Senator Ohio, is trying to change that, while Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is such a good political leader, why has border security been so lax over the past three and a half years? Why did prices soar so murderously? When you ask why the Middle East and Ukraine war is so slow, you have to change it again.

[Anchor]
The JD band, so the Trump side continues to attack the economy, diplomacy and security, so how do you think the Walls side, so the Harris side, should defend it and what part of it should stimulate the voters' votes?

[Bongyeongsik]
I've been trying for the last three and a half years. And there were a number of good bipartisan bills, especially when it came to border security and economic recovery. That's what we're talking about, that candidate Trump manipulated Republicans in the background to try to solve the problem. So Trump is a politician who only cares about himself. Not a political leader who thinks of you, and the interests of the country. Border security also failed because Trump pressured Republicans not to pass the bill when the problem was resolved if the bipartisan bill had been passed then.

So Trump is not a president who cares about the country and the people, but a politician who is only interested in how he will win the election, and if there is a problem, he will make it worse, demonize it, and maximize the benefits by making it an issue, Tim Walz continues to talk about this. JD Vance Trump's running mate is exchanging these debates, saying, "Shouldn't you be responsible for failing to solve the problem? Don't keep making excuses and be honest with the American people about how you see the results."

[Anchor]
Because it received so much attention among the TV debates of previous presidential candidates, the TV debates of vice presidential candidates are also receiving that much attention. Will there be a second debate?

[Bongyeongsik]
It's this morning that Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, is not going to have further presidential debates. Since we talked in Korean time, there is no more discussion until the presidential election on November 5, whether it is between presidential or vice presidential candidates. This is the last official debate between Democrats and Republicans that American voters and global viewers will see.

[Anchor]
There is not much time left after the last official debate. The biggest issue now is the Middle East war, but should I say that it is an unexpected variable left? What kind of things are there?

[Bongyeongsik]
As I said earlier, the situation in the Middle East will be prolonged because Iran and the United States are making every effort to prevent further escalation and all-out war. But it won't be a fatal issue for Democrats because it won't get any worse, but the problem is twofold. One is a natural disaster. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused 200 trillion won in considerable damage. So George W. Bush won re-election, and a year later, he fell into a lame duck situation. And I'm sure you know it well.Ma had the Surframe mortgage, the subprime mortgage, and the Lehman Brothers crisis ahead of the 2017 presidential election, right? So, unproven by the Democratic Party, the young Barack Obama candidate was elected. So if the U.S. economy falters during the next month of the presidential election, this is directly linked to the Biden administration's regime trial theory, putting Kamala Harris at a very critical disadvantage. If natural disasters and economic crises occur, Trump will be in favor and Harris will be in a very disadvantageous position.

[Anchor]
Natural disasters and the economy are the last variables left, and they pointed out this far.

So far, I've been with Bong Young-sik, a professional researcher at Yonsei Unification Research Institute. Thank you.