Rep. Na Kyung-won of the main opposition People Power Party on Friday slammed the Lee Jae Myung administration over the ongoing dispute with Ukraine, accusing the Seoul government of pushing relations with Kyiv into crisis.
Na is a five-term lawmaker and former floor leader of the People Power Party’s predecessor, the Liberty Korea Party.
Na revealed in a Facebook post that she planned to send a letter of gratitude to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “correct the government’s misguided diplomacy” and to “reaffirm the values of solidarity among liberal democracies.”
The post came a day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it was recalling the South Korean ambassador to Ukraine. Na claimed that the administration's approach was irrational and benefits only Russia and North Korea.
“The Lee Jae-myung administration cannot utter a single word of protest against North Korea, which injured our soldiers with land mines along the Military Demarcation Line, or against Russia, the aggressor nation. Yet it repays Ukraine’s goodwill in repatriating North Korean prisoners of war with hostility,” Na wrote.
“This is an utterly excessive slight against Ukraine, one that is impossible to comprehend from the standpoint of South Korea’s national interests and security.”
Na said Seoul should overlook any “regrettable” developments in bilateral relations that may have occurred and seek further cooperation with Kyiv in light of the possibility of additional North Korean prisoners of war being transferred to the South.
“Nevertheless, the president, the presidential office and the government have repeatedly vented their emotional outrage, bringing about a diplomatic crisis of their own making,” Na wrote.
“Their actions are more than enough to raise suspicions about their underlying motives, both at home and abroad, including within the international community.”
Seoul announced the recall of its ambassador to Ukraine without elaboration, saying only that the government hoped “various pending issues” would be resolved.
The decision followed weeks of rising tensions between Seoul and Kyiv, which began with Zelenskyy’s speech at the UN General Assembly. In it, he revealed that North Korean prisoners of war were being transferred to South Korea. Seoul promptly demanded an apology, citing the agreement to keep the transfer confidential.
Ukraine has also claimed that petroleum shipments from South Korean ports reached Russia, which has faced fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine's presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, said Tuesday that shipments from South Korean ports helped Russia alleviate fuel shortages and offset losses in refining capacity caused by Ukrainian attacks, citing a Guardian report earlier that day.
The South Korean presidential office rejected the claim Wednesday as "inaccurate and inappropriate," saying Seoul had consistently implemented sanctions and export controls against Russia in close coordination with the international community since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com
