International politics ignites the internal debate. The opposition criticizes the government for the joint military operations with the United States and Japan, and accuses the conservatives of favoring the return of Tokyo to the peninsula. The interim head of the Conservative Party strikes back: these are statements that echo those of Pyongyang.
Seoul () – While North Korea embarks on a series of missile launchesSeoul chooses to respond by strengthening its military partnerships: last week the South Koreans carried out joint military exercises with their traditional ally, the United States, and the Japanese navy with the aim of improve its deterrence capacity. “Our military is focusing on capabilities to respond to missile and nuclear threats from North Korea,” the South Korean chief of staff said. However, the Democratic Party, now in opposition, does not agree with this vision and criticizes the president, calling him a “collaborator” with Japan.
Some House Democrats accused the military and to Yoon Suk-yeol’s government of wanting to unleash a spiral of tensions: the joint response with the US and Japanese Armed Forces, the first in five years, would have in fact been excessively aggressive, according to the Democratic opposition. Party chairman Lee Jae-myung was one of those who raised his voice.
The words of Lee, who called the joint exercise a “defense disaster”, fueled the political debate in the last days. On October 10, the chairman of the Democrats lashed out at the Yoon government again, when he accused it of being “pro-Japanese.” during a live broadcast via YouTube: used a derogatory epithet commonly reserved for collaborators during the Japanese colonization of Korea between 1920 and 1945.
“It seems that preparations are being made to form a military alliance between South Korea, the United States and Japan,” Lee said during the live broadcast. An idea that in Korea is unpopular politically, given the general mistrust of Tokyo. The Democratic leader said that he feared the return of the Japanese military to the peninsula in case of an emergency.
Furthermore, Lee noted that the joint exercise would implicitly recognize the legitimacy of the Japanese Navy. According to the pacifist constitution adopted by Tokyo after World War II, Japan cannot have armed forces, and those that currently exist are technically self-defense forces, although the functions they perform are entirely military.
The fears that Lee proclaims are a clear political pretext, given that the last joint exercise between the three countries had taken place in 2017, when the Democrat Moon Jae-in was in government. The government immediately lashed out at Lee’s words. The office of the presidency noted that the most serious threat facing the region is North Korea’s nuclear and missile program, not Japan.
Conservative interim leader Chung Jin-suk’s counterattack Do not be late: mocked Lee, saying his remarks echo Kim Jong-un’s hostility against the trilateral Seoul-Tokyo-Washington collaboration. It was an attempt to turn an anti-Japanese controversy into a controversy over alleged opposition support for North Korea. In this regard, Chung said that the alleged deployment of the Japanese military in Korea is as absurd as the North’s promise to abandon its nuclear program. “I hope no one is blinded by a superficial interpretation of history,” he commented.
