Democratic Party's 'Return' Criticism Grows Over US-ROK Exercise Postponement Controversy: "Unable to Make Right Judgment"

61 of 171 Democratic Party Members Sign Petition to Postpone
Song Young-gil: "Training to Proceed as Planned for ROK-US Trust and Wartime OPCON Transfer"

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 6th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The controversy over the postponement of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises is intensifying the ‘anti-Song (against Representative Song Young-gil)’ sentiment within the Democratic Party of Korea. The conflict between Representative Song, who insists on proceeding with the joint exercises, and the lawmakers demanding a delay, has remained at a stalemate for two days. This sentiment, which was triggered during the postponement process of the presidential primary, is likely to erupt at the lawmakers’ meeting next week.

At the Supreme Council meeting on the 6th, Representative Song opened by saying, "Today marks the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima." He then stated, "The steps toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula must never be halted," adding, "The South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises currently being prepared must be carried out. This is a defensive exercise and an issue that requires persuading the North." Although 74 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties issued a joint statement the previous day calling for the postponement of the joint exercises, Representative Song reaffirmed his position that the exercises should proceed as planned, calling it "an unavoidable measure for trust between South Korea and the U.S. and the recovery of wartime operational control."

Among the 171 Democratic Party lawmakers, 61 participated in the joint statement. Seol Hoon, a Democratic Party lawmaker who led the statement, told Asia Economy in a phone interview that day, "I do not think Representative Song is making the right judgment." He continued, "In order to achieve denuclearization, shouldn’t we establish conditions for peace between the South and the North?" and emphasized, "Postponing the exercises is a rational decision to avoid missing the opportunity for inter-Korean dialogue." Seol also said, "Representative Song often makes decisions alone without listening to the opinions of lawmakers. Such incidents are accumulating one after another."

Except for Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, other presidential candidates argued for postponing the primary schedule citing COVID-19 and other reasons, but Representative Song initially insisted on maintaining the schedule, and criticism that he is biased toward Governor Lee has continued. Representative Song emphasizes centrist expansion, but this leads to opposition from reformist lawmakers within the party.

A representative example is the decision to hand over the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee to the People Power Party in the second half of the National Assembly after the presidential election. The Democratic Party plans to hold a lawmakers’ meeting next week to gather opinions regarding the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, but the leadership maintains that this is already an agreed matter with the opposition party and cannot be reversed as it is premised on reforming the committee’s functions.

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