Song Young-gil on Yoon Seok-yeol's THAAD Remarks: "If You Want to Run for President, Study More"

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol on the 16th for stating that “if China wants to demand the withdrawal of the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), it should first withdraw the long-range radar deployed near its own borders,” saying, “If you want to challenge for the presidency, I hope you study more about security and diplomacy.”

At the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Leader Song pointed out, “This reveals a very weak diplomatic perspective.”

He said, “During the Park Geun-hye administration, the deployment of THAAD was consistently argued not as a measure to check China but solely to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threat,” adding, “It is quite dangerous for someone aspiring to be president to say that it is aimed at China.”

He continued, “Can someone perform the duties of the presidency in this state? Diplomacy is extremely important and concerns the fate of the nation,” and criticized, “This once again confirmed that it is not something that can be achieved by cramming like a driving license test.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.