People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a party meeting. [Yonhap]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a party meeting. [Yonhap]

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said Monday that the abrupt return of South Korea's ambassador to the United States, Kang Kyung-wha, laid bare a crisis in the South Korea-US alliance.

Speaking at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, Jang said the public had lost confidence in the Lee Jae-myung administration's defense and security policies. "The South Korea-US alliance, one of the pillars of our security, is also in crisis," he said.

Jang said the administration appeared set to push ahead with an early transfer of wartime operational control and was moving to pass legislation this year to consolidate the military academies. "If the military weakens and the alliance falters, the only one who will be pleased is North Korea's Kim Jong-un regime," he said. "National security is not a subject for ideology, politics or experimentation."

He also took aim at the special prosecutor offices launched under the Lee administration, saying its four politically driven investigations had spent 6.4 billion won ($4.31 million) on real estate alone. "They rented expensive offices in Gangnam and Gwanghwamun and spent hundreds of millions of won on lavish interior renovations," Jang said. "All of it is taxpayers' money."

He called on the administration to abandon what he called political special prosecutor probes and instead pursue one focused on the National Election Commission controversy. "A special prosecutor recommended by the People Power Party, with unlimited investigative scope — that is the only way to restore the voting rights that have been taken from the people and uphold the Constitution," he said.


husn7@heraldcorp.com