PPP leader calls Lee’s praise of scaled-back military drills unprecedented 'self-delusion'

People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Thursday accused President Lee Jae Myung of “self-delusion on an unprecedented scale” after Lee praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to scale back joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises.

“President Lee says scaling back the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises is a major decision for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the main opposition party's leader said during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in western Seoul. “It is a pitiful denial of reality and self-delusion on an unprecedented scale.”

The real motive behind Trump's decision, Jang argued, was no secret.

“The world already knows what caused this,” Jang said. “Wasn’t the real reason the ‘No thanks’ over the Iran war and delays in investment in the United States?”

He went on to argue that Seoul had been shut out of the process leading up to the reduction in the exercises.

“President Trump openly criticized South Korea, asking why he should help South Korea when the South Korean president won’t help the United States,” Jang said. “There was neither prior consultation nor even notification to our government about the reduction in the exercises. A U.S. political news outlet even said that President Trump appeared to want to deal South Korea a blow.”

Jang then accused Lee of pushing further in a direction that could weaken the South Korea-U.S. security alliance.

“And yet President Lee is going even further,” Jang said. “What he is saying is that he wants to take back wartime operational control and move toward the withdrawal of U.S. Forces Korea.”

He warned that Seoul could be sidelined entirely in any future diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.

“Even if a U.S.-North Korea summit takes place, South Korea being sidelined is already a foregone conclusion,” Jang said. “Even if the United States reaches an agreement that harms our security and national interests, we would have no way to stop it.”

Jang also dismissed Lee's stated ambition to serve as a "pacemaker" between Washington and Pyongyang.

“No matter how much President Lee Jae Myung appoints himself as a pacemaker, both President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un will say, ‘No thanks,’” Jang said. “Economic retaliation, including tariff hikes, will follow as well.”

The consequences, he argued, would fall hardest on ordinary South Koreans.

“Our people and companies will suffer, while only North Korea, China and Russia will be smiling,” Jang said. “President Lee Jae Myung has given up on security, diplomacy and the economy. An administration that has abandoned the people will soon be abandoned by the people.”

Trump announced the decision to scale back the joint exercises in a social media post on Sunday, writing: "I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, 'No thanks!'"

Separately, Jang criticized ruling Democratic Party (DP) leader Kim Min-seok for raising the possibility of impeaching Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de.

“Kim’s first message after taking office was calling to impeach the chief justice,” Jang said. “It clearly shows why President Lee went all in on making Kim Min-seok party leader.”

The chief justice's constitutional authority to recommend Supreme Court justices, Jang argued, exists precisely to safeguard judicial independence, and using it as impeachment grounds would undermine that principle.

“The reason the Constitution gives the chief justice the authority to recommend Supreme Court justices is to protect judicial independence,” Jang said. “If the chief justice is supposed to consult the presidential office in advance while recommending Supreme Court justices, coordinate the candidates beforehand to suit the president’s preferences and then submit the recommendation, can that really be called a recommendation?”

He tied the impeachment talk to the broader controversy over expanding the Supreme Court.

“They went to all sorts of lengths to increase the number of Supreme Court justices so that 22 justices could be appointed, and in the end, the reason they are talking about impeaching the chief justice is that he did not recommend justices to the president’s liking,” Jang said. “If they are talking about impeaching the chief justice for that, then that itself would ultimately constitute unconstitutional grounds for impeachment.”

Jang turned the argument back on the president.

“If the president is behind all of this, and if Kim is making these outrageous remarks at the president’s direction, then that clearly constitutes grounds for impeaching President Lee Jae Myung,” Jang said.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]