People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a rally at the handball arena in Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Saturday, to protest the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. [People Power Party]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a rally at the handball arena in Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on Saturday, to protest the ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections. [People Power Party]

The People Power Party on Monday intensified its criticism of US President Donald Trump's order to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok warned in a Facebook post that the drills were now at risk of being eliminated entirely. "'Too late to cancel, so drastically reduce' — at this rate, there will be no joint exercises at all," Jang wrote. "Things have ended up exactly as President Lee wanted. I want to ask whether he feels satisfied."

Jang called the situation a diplomatic disaster of the Lee government's own making, citing a series of missteps. "The ministers of unification and national defense leaked classified military information one after another," he said. "Promised investment in the United States has still gone nowhere, and the government cannot even resolve the Coupang Inc issue."

Jang also took aim at Trump's description of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as someone he has a "very good relationship" with. "The president of an ally trusts Lee less than a North Korean dictator," he said. "South Korea's economy is in peril. South Korea's security is in even greater peril. President Lee, do you have a plan?"

PPP chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon said in a statement that the hollowing out of joint defense exercises — drills meant to test real combat readiness against North Korean threats — was entirely the result of the Lee Jae-myung government's own actions.

"The Lee Jae-myung government's arrogant diplomatic conduct, which treated alliance trust as worthless, brought this distrust upon itself," Park said. He called on the government to offer a sincere public apology, immediately abandon what he called its ideologically driven foreign policy, and restore the collapsed framework of South Korea-US defense cooperation.

PPP floor spokesperson Choe Eun-seok said Trump's order appeared linked to the stalled state of South Korea-US economic negotiations. "Overt frustration has emerged from the US side over why investment commitments are not moving forward, and Yeo Han-koo, the chief trade negotiator responsible for the talks, was abruptly dismissed," Choe said. "Whatever the reason for his dismissal, it is clear that public anxiety and distrust over the state of the South Korea-US relationship are deepening."

Five-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won said on Facebook that the Lee government's erosion of defense capabilities and security credibility had ultimately handed the ally the leverage to cut back joint exercises. "The Lee government must immediately halt its reckless acts of security self-harm and restore the collapsed South Korea-US combined defense posture," she said.

Three-term lawmaker Seong Il-jong cited Trump's statement that President Lee had declined a request to join efforts to denuclearize Iran, warning that Iran and North Korea are closely linked through nuclear technology and missile ties. "South Korea distancing itself from international cooperation on Iran's denuclearization punches a hole in global denuclearization efforts — it is an act of self-harm," Seong said.

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok said on Facebook that Washington's apparent view of North Korea as non-threatening stood in direct contradiction to the threat South Korea perceives. "When allies start seeing the same adversary differently, something has gone wrong," he said. He added that the Iran episode signaled that joint South Korea-US military exercises had been reduced to a bargaining chip in separate negotiations.

Lee said the United States was simultaneously expanding exercises with other allies, and that strengthening drills with others while cutting them with South Korea indicated a shift in the center of gravity within the alliance. "I hope the government responds to this dangerous signal with the seriousness it deserves," he said.


gil@heraldcorp.com