In the opposition, criticism is mounting over President Lee Jae-myung's post on X about Israel.
Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party posted on Facebook on the 13th under the title "The president's dangerous treasonous diplomacy that sides with an ally's enemy," urging, "Israel is a free trade agreement (FTA) economic union partner, and President Lee Jae-myung must stop aiding the enemy."
Ahn said, "The president shared a video from two years ago on X and criticized Israel," adding, "The wording, including terms like genocide of Jews and killings during wartime, was also extremely harsh." He continued, "Israel's Foreign Ministry immediately pushed back, calling it 'unacceptable,' and the president went on to condemn Israel with phrases like anti-human rights and anti-international law behavior."
Ahn stressed that Israel is an important ally for Korea. He said, "Israel is an economic union partner that signed an FTA with us," and "In 2022, it became the first Asian country to bring an FTA with the Republic of Korea into force, effectively sharing a market economy at 0% tariffs."
Ahn said, "Iran, as a 'nuclear weapons brother nation' with North Korea, has in direct and indirect ways constrained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," adding, "Yet last week, after a currency between foreign ministers and even discussing sending a special envoy with Iran, the president is undermining the foundation of an alliance with Israel by invoking the 'Holocaust.'"
He added, "The president must immediately stop treasonous diplomacy that harms Korea's security and sides with an ally's enemy," and "must also cease dangerous acts that could fall under the crime of aiding the enemy under the Criminal Act."
Cheon Ha-ram, floor leader of the Reform Party, also said in opening remarks at the supreme council meeting held that day, "The 'Jvnior' account that President Lee Jae-myung cited in sharing a post and video claiming 'Israeli soldiers tortured a Palestinian child and then dropped the child from a roof' is a hotbed of fake news and conspiracy theories," adding, "Jvnior is a conspiracy theorist who claims Israel carried out the 9/11 attacks. He is nothing more than a conspiracy theorist who manufactures and spreads countless fake-news items from an anti-Israel perspective."
Cheon said, "President Lee Jae-myung wrote the post without even verifying the facts, and the video he shared wasn't even of Israeli soldiers torturing a Palestinian child and then dropping the child," adding, "At the level of the president of the Republic of Korea, before posting something like 'if true,' he should have instructed at least one of the hundreds of staffers in the presidential office to verify the facts."
Cheon said, "President Lee Jae-myung should apologize, even now, for being duped by a conspiracy theorist and sharing fake news," adding, "At a minimum, we should prevent situations in which the president harms Korea's national interest in foreign affairs by sharing fake news from conspiracy theorists."
Party leader Lee Jun-seok of the same party also said, "A president who once called a forgery like the Hwandangogi a text is now using a video from an extremist propaganda account as the basis for diplomacy," adding, "The lighter the president's finger gets, the more Korea's national dignity plummets."