PPP blasts Lee administration: 'Passed over by allies, mocked by North Korea'
The opposition party accused the Lee Jae Myung government of weakening security on the peninsula after hastily scaled-back U.S.-South Korea drills and withering North Korean criticism.
U.S. Forces Korea personnel move military vehicles at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 17, as South Korea and the United States begin Ulchi Freedom Shield, a regular joint military exercise designed to prepare for the defense of the Korean Peninsula.
YONHAP
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) criticized the President Lee Jae Myung administration's foreign and security policy Sunday, saying South Korea is “being passed over by its allies and mocked by North Korea.”
PPP chief spokesperson Choi Bo-yoon pointed to the recent scaling back of Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), the joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States, which she said “was cut in half by [U.S.] President Donald Trump's unilateral order.” She argued Korea had been left out of the decision entirely. “Our military wasn't even given advance notice, let alone consulted, and our government was excluded from the alliance's decision,” she said.
The UFS exercise began last Monday and was originally scheduled to continue through Thursday. But after Trump ordered a sharp reduction in the scale of the exercise, South Korean and U.S. military authorities decided to shorten its duration and cut its scope.
Choi contrasted that with North Korea's response to South Korea's diplomatic outreach, accusing Pyongyang of mocking Seoul even as it targeted President Lee personally. “North Korea targeted the president by name, throwing around words like 'flattery' and 'double-dealing,' mocking our government's 'pitiful situation' while firing missiles into the East Sea,” she said. “What came back in response to our outstretched hand for dialogue wasn't a handshake — it was a slap in the face.”
Using a metaphor to describe what she called the administration's weakened defense posture, Choi said, “A sword only carries its dignity when it remains in its sheath alongside the blade. The Lee Jae Myung administration has thrown away the sword and is only showing off the sheath. Deterrence-free peace, as this government describes it after discarding the sword, is nothing but an empty ideological slogan.”
She also criticized the administration's push to accelerate the transfer of wartime operational control, also known as Opcon, calling the timing reckless given the current tensions. “The public knows that the price of remaining a bystander ultimately comes back as insecurity for the Korean people,” she said.
Choi closed by vowing that the PPP would hold the administration accountable. “The public will hold the Lee Jae Myung administration accountable for its incompetence and irresponsibility on security,” she said. “The People Power Party will never stand by as our security crumbles. Peace on the Korean Peninsula is not something granted by others — it is something we must protect ourselves.”
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
