Shin Hyun-young demands Ukraine explain disclosure; Jeong Jeom-sik asks if fear stems from illicit funds case

President Lee Jae Myung walks to lay a wreath at the Monument to the Heroes of Independence in Mexico City on Thursday (local time) during a state visit to Mexico. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung walks to lay a wreath at the Monument to the Heroes of Independence in Mexico City on Thursday (local time) during a state visit to Mexico. [Yonhap]

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the opposition People Power Party traded barbs Friday over President Lee Jae Myung's sharp rebuke of conservative critics who had attacked the government's decision to keep the repatriation of two North Korean prisoners of war secret.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Lee expressed regret toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for breaking a confidentiality agreement by publicly disclosing the repatriation of the two North Korean POWs. Turning to domestic critics of the government's secrecy policy, Lee wrote that those who "harm lives and national security for the sake of self-promotion are murderers and traitors."

Democratic Party spokesperson Shin Hyun-young said in a statement that Zelensky had "disclosed the repatriation of North Korean POWs to the entire world despite a confidentiality agreement between South Korea and Ukraine," calling it "a betrayal of trust between the two countries and a dangerous act from a national security standpoint."

Shin said the most pressing priority was now the thorough protection of the two repatriated individuals, and urged Ukraine to explain the circumstances of the disclosure while cooperating fully on follow-up measures to ensure their safety.

"The Lee Jae Myung government has not the slightest intention of boasting about the POW repatriation or exploiting it politically," Shin said, adding that the People Power Party should "refrain from turning this matter into a political fight."

She went on to say the PPP should "hold back from making public demands that could expose the identities or specific protection details of those under protection, and from raising baseless allegations," and pledged that the Democratic Party would "do its part to allow the government to focus on airtight personal protection and responsible diplomatic responses."

People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik pushed back on Facebook, saying the repatriation "should have been made public — it was only a matter of timing." He questioned why the government had "suddenly become fixated on secrecy," asking sarcastically, "Were you so afraid of upsetting Kim Jong-un? Is that fear rooted in the weakness exposed by the illicit inter-Korean funds transfer case?"

Jeong added that Lee had responded to the PPP's question about why the repatriation was concealed by "hurling extreme language — 'cruelty,' 'irresponsibility,' 'murderers,' 'traitors.'" He said the government was "begging the North Korean regime for a fake peace and submitting to every provocation," and fired back: "The real traitors are you."

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo wrote on Facebook that "if we cannot even announce a POW repatriation on our own terms because we are watching North Korea's mood, that is not a country," adding that "the more the president's affection for North Korea grows, the more our security is neutralized and our diplomacy rendered incompetent."

Independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon also weighed in, saying Lee — who had once boasted he would "ruin anyone who touches a Korean" — "stays silent on North Korea's land mine attacks but gets angry only when the North Korean POWs are disclosed." Han said the Lee administration's security standard was "whether Kim Jong-un's regime has been offended," and claimed Lee had been compromised by Kim, "the very recipient of illicit funds sent for Lee Jae Myung's benefit."


youknow@heraldcorp.com