On December 19, the People Power Party strongly criticized President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks during a foreign affairs and unification briefing. Lee had stated that North Korea worries South Korea might invade, which the party condemned as a dangerous move seemingly aimed at handing over South Korea to North Korea.
Chief Spokesperson Park Sung-hoon issued a statement questioning whether Lee truly understands his role as South Korea’s president, given his concern about a potential South Korean invasion rather than North Korean aggression.
Park added that there’s even public speculation that this might be an attempt to surrender our nation to North Korea. The President’s comments once again confirm that he poses the greatest threat to South Korea’s national security.
Kim Gun, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, pointed out on Facebook that there’s no objective evidence supporting the claim that North Korea fears a South Korean invasion. He noted that in fact, North Korea understands the defensive nature of the South Korea-U.S. alliance so well that they’ve confidently deployed over 10,000 elite troops to Ukraine.
Kim also highlighted that the Kim Jong Un regime has installed electric fences along their entire border with China. Following President Lee’s logic, this would suggest North Korea is trying to prevent a Chinese invasion. Who would believe that? It’s clearly a desperate measure to prevent North Koreans from defecting, as the regime can only maintain power through oppression and control.
Park Chung-kwon, a North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker, expressed shock, stating that it’s alarming that South Korea’s commander-in-chief is advocating for North Korea’s position rather than South Korea’s. Has the Lee administration forgotten the atrocities committed by the Kim family that began at 4:00 a.m. on June 25, 1950?
Representative Joo Jin-woo criticized that he’s made statements that are hard to fathom coming from a commander-in-chief. His views on national security are dangerously complacent. Responding to Lee’s comment that in the past, North Korea seemed to pretend to be an enemy, but now they appear to be a real one, Joo retorted about North Korea develop nuclear weapons, sink the Cheonan, and kill the officials while pretending to be an enemy? North Korea is the primary adversary.
Former party leader Han Dong-hoon joined the criticism, calling it unnecessary concern about North Korea. He argued that from North Korea’s perspective, the individual who received millions of USD (several billion KRW) through Ssangbangwool is now South Korea’s president. Why would they worry about a South Korean invasion? Instead of needlessly worrying about North Korea, he should focus on reining in the Unification Ministry, which has declared independence from the Foreign Ministry.
Representative Kim Jae-seop criticized President Lee’s order to lift restrictions on access to North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, stating that freedom of expression should benefit South Korean citizens, not North Korea. It’s hypocritical to be overly accommodating to North Korean media while cracking down on South Korean press.
Representative Woo Jae-jun added that the Lee administration has banned loudspeakers and leaflets directed at North Korea, yet now wants South Koreans to read the Rodong Sinmun. Shouldn’t the truth be made known to the people living in North Korea instead?
The People Power Party also demanded the immediate withdrawal of the so-called Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Law being pushed by the Democratic Party and Unification Minister Chung Dong-young. This legislation would allow the South Korean government access to the DMZ for non-military and peaceful purposes only.
Spokesperson Park described the DMZ Law as a dangerous proposal that undermines South Korea-U.S. cooperation and exemplifies outdated politics that manipulates national security for political gain. He noted that despite the United Nations (UN) Command issuing an unusual statement opposing the law based on its authority under the armistice agreement, the Democratic Party continues to stir up public sentiment by invoking territorial sovereignty.
