PPP alleges President Lee played golf after Navy sailor went missing

The opposition party blasted President Lee Jae Myung for allegedly playing golf while a Navy sailor went missing in the waters near the maritime border with North Korea.

"The president is alleged to have been leisurely playing golf while a Navy sailor was dying in the cold waters of the East Sea," the opposition People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok said on a Facebook post Monday.

"If that is true, I refuse to serve Lee Jae Myung as the commander in chief of the Republic of Korea's armed forces.”

The sailor, who had been serving aboard a Navy patrol vessel near the NLL, was reported missing early Sunday and was found dead early Monday.

Jang claimed he had received a tip that President Lee and his companions began a round of golf at around 11 a.m. Sunday.

"If the president continued playing golf after being informed of the sailor's disappearance, how could that possibly be overlooked?" Jang said.

He called on the presidential office to disclose, "down to the minute," all relevant records, including the timeline of reports following the sailor's disappearance, entry records from Taereung Country Club in Gyeonggi and surveillance camera footage.

PPP lawmaker Na Kyung-won also raised the allegations in a Facebook post the same day.

"I have continued to receive reports that President Lee Jae Myung and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back played a round of golf at Taereung Country Club at around 11 a.m. yesterday," Na wrote.

"They were accompanied by multiple security personnel and a person believed to be Kim Hyun-ji, the president's personal secretary,” she added.

Na also said she had received tips that President Lee and the first lady played golf during the campaign for the June 3 local elections, adding that the Ministry of National Defense had refused to submit supporting records.

PPP Rep. Shin Dong-uk also weighed in.

"The country's national defense is already being shaken because Minister Ahn has refused to disclose even a single page of his military service records,” he said. “I hope the presidential office will prevent further confusion by clearly stating that the president did not play golf."

Defense Minister Ahn is currently being accused of desertion during his military service.

The Ministry of National Defense on Monday denied allegations that Ahn visited a golf course.

"Regarding claims that the defense minister visited a golf course yesterday, the minister remained at his official residence managing the situation involving the Navy and carrying out his regular duties, including reviewing defense policy," the ministry spokesperson said.

The presidential office did not issue a separate statement.

Presidential golf outings have repeatedly become a source of political controversy in Korea.

In November 2024, the then-opposition and now-ruling Democratic Party (DP) criticized former President Yoon Suk Yeol for playing golf at a military golf course.

The DP argued that Yoon had played golf between August and November that year during the annual South Korea–U.S. joint military exercises, when troops had been prohibited from playing golf; during the national mourning period following a hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi; and when North Korea was sending balloons carrying trash across the border.

At the time, the presidential office said Yoon had taken up golf to prepare for so-called "golf diplomacy" with then-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

It also said Yoon had simply used a military golf course because no golf course was reserved for the president.

The DP rejected that explanation, noting that Trump did not win the U.S. presidential election until Nov. 6 that year, while Yoon had begun playing golf months earlier.

BY KIM BO-REUM [[email protected]]