The main opposition People Power Party on Friday submitted a motion to dismiss Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, accusing him of endangering the alliance between Seoul and Washington.
The motion is unlikely to pass the National Assembly, as the conservative party only holds 107 parliamentary seats out of 295, while the motion requires a majority vote.
The conservative representatives move is based on claims that Chung's revelation of North Korea's uranium enrichment site was based on US intelligence and led the US to limit its intelligence-sharing with South Korea.
Earlier the same day, People Power Party chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok said Chung's remarks had "destroyed the foundation of trust" between the two countries, while President Lee Jae Myung's move to defend Chung through an X post "is accelerating the destruction of the foundation."
According to Jang, the US has shared its concerns with the party, as he recalled a recent meeting with James Heller, charge d'affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in South Korea.
"The US side believes that it must be guaranteed and promised that such an irresponsible information leak would not be repeated," said Jang. "The Lee administration does not seem to recognize its gravity, although we are conveying the US' view on this issue to the current administration."
"The US also sees that implementing the joint fact sheet on trade and security would be difficult if trust between the two countries is not restored," Jang also said, adding that the US officials he met did not mean to refuse implementation of the high-stakes agreement signed in November.
By contrast, President Lee Jae Myung and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea have taken a stance that Chung's remarks were based on publicly available information. The ruling party, which has the majority of the parliamentary seats, slammed the conservative opposition for trying to exploit the situation in their favor before the quickly approaching June local elections.
Chung and Democratic Party members of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly boycotted the committee meeting Thursday convened by the committee chair, Rep. Kim Seok-ki of the People Power Party. The same was true for the National Defense Committee, as neither Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back nor Democratic Party members attended.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
