'Korea-US alliance on verge of collapse — Jeong Dong-yeong, Lee Jong-seok must act immediately'

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Monday. [Yonhap]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok speaks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Monday. [Yonhap]

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok sharpened his attacks on President Lee Jae Myung on Monday, warning that "there are no golf courses or smartphones in prison" and urging him to "prepare in advance."

Jang made the remarks at a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly that morning. "These days, President Lee's only interests are golf and social media," he said. "He played golf even as a Navy sailor drowned at sea. He spent an entire day on the course with his family even as elderly people's lives were at risk after a shopping arcade ceiling collapsed."

Jang had raised the golf controversy on Saturday as well, saying that when Lee was Seongnam mayor, he had denounced President Park Geun-hye for being at her residence during the seven hours of the Sewol ferry disaster and called it dereliction of duty. "If staying at the residence is dereliction of duty, is playing golf outright abandonment of duty?" Jang said.

He added that Lee had said 10 years ago, "As president, one must receive real-time reports on the situation at the scene and direct rescue operations." Jang then asked: "Is it possible to receive real-time reports and direct rescue operations while playing golf?"

Jang also cited the number of posts President Lee has uploaded to social media, saying Lee "plays golf with his family during the day and is busy posting on social media at night." He said Lee posted 116 times in September alone and surpassed 60 posts in just over 10 days this month.

"Not a single word the public actually wants to hear," Jang said. "The real estate nightmare is blamed on the previous administration, the farmland survey is blamed on speculators, and the Samsung-SK Hynix ETF has not even been mentioned."

Jang also took aim at Lee over his use of the slang term "jwaahage," saying Lee had used it, faced criticism, then expressed indignation at what he called an overreaction — only to use it again Sunday night, saying it was trending. He said Lee was also invoking the names of late President Roh Moo-hyun and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in an apparent bid to claim legitimacy as the true heir of the left, after being attacked by the online community "Munjoteollaeyu."

"President Lee claims this is communication, but no one in the public thinks of it as communication," Jang said. "He ignores every public call for a change in governance, says only what he wants to say, and caters only to his own side. How is that communication?"

Turning to recent friction in the Korea-US alliance, Jang said Unification Minister Jeong Dong-yeong and National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok bore responsibility. "The Korea-US alliance, the most important pillar of our diplomatic security and economy, is in effect on the verge of collapse," he said. "The United States has cut off intelligence sharing on North Korea for six months. South Korea's NIS was the only party barred from attending the Korea-US-Japan meeting on countering North Korean cyberattacks."

He added that a visa had been denied for an embassy staff member set to be dispatched to Washington, and that Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae had been unable to travel to the United States for a national audit trip after being denied a visa.

"An incompetent president is gambling recklessly with the fate of the nation and the lives of its people," Jang said. "The end result will be economic bankruptcy and a security collapse for South Korea. The people must now rise and fight to protect our economy, our livelihoods and our security."


raining@heraldcorp.com