Conflicting Views Between Ruling and Opposition Parties on Yoon's Overseas Tour: "Resolving South Korea's Diplomatic Arteriosclerosis" vs. "A Meager Report Card"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Naju-seok] President Yoon Seok-yeol returned to Korea on the 16th after a 4-night, 6-day Southeast Asia tour, with the ruling and opposition parties offering differing evaluations of the tour's outcomes. Jeong Jin-seok, Emergency Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, praised the tour as "resolving the arterial sclerosis of Korean diplomacy," while Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party, harshly criticized it as a "meager tour report card."

On the morning of the same day, Chairman Jeong posted on his social network service (SNS), "The blood vessels of Korean diplomacy, clogged with numerous blood clots in the heart and cerebral vessels, have been thoroughly cleared," giving this assessment.

He criticized the previous administration regarding Korea-US relations, saying, "During the five years of the Moon Jae-in administration, was the Korea-US alliance alive? The Korea-US alliance was just a hollow name," and raised his voice, "When First Lady Kim Geon-hee linked arms, President Biden of the United States broke into a bright smile like a grandfather. This symbolizes the restored Korea-US alliance."

Regarding Korea-Japan relations, he said, "Core members of the Moon Jae-in administration incited people to sing the 'Death March' song. They hurled insults calling those who spoke of improving Korea-Japan relations 'native Japanese collaborators,'" adding, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration is normalizing Korea-Japan relations."

On the Korea-China summit, he evaluated, "(The Moon Jae-in government) did not dare utter a proper word to the Chinese leadership for fear of offending the Kim Jong-un siblings," and "President Yoon Seok-yeol directly raised the issue of North Korea's nuclear problem and provocations with Chinese President Xi Jinping."

He emphasized, "Korean diplomacy, which used to be cautious of Kim Jong-un, is now confidently raising its voice to the international community," and "The Democratic Party previously tried to frame President Yoon Seok-yeol as a 'diplomatic disaster,' but it failed, and they also attacked First Lady Kim Geon-hee's normal diplomatic activities with disgraceful terms, but that too failed."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, Floor Leader Park criticized at the Democratic Party's highest committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the same day, saying, "The New Southern Policy and Northern Policy have disappeared. There is no progress on historical issues even in the Korea-Japan summit," and "I hoped for achievements this time for national interests, but the returned tour report card is extremely meager."

He said, "The Korea-US summit was lip service," and "Regarding the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Biden only expressed a principled stance." He added, "It may sound pleasant, but the results have not changed," and "Since the Yoon Seok-yeol administration has missed several opportunities, it must conclude through decisive diplomacy with the US administration and Congress."

Floor Leader Park also pointed out the controversy over media control that arose during the tour. He said, "This tour set an embarrassing new record for media control," and "Not only was MBC excluded from boarding the presidential plane to tame the media, but there was also blatant 'media discrimination' and 'lining up the media' by dealing only with specific media outlets." He criticized, "The presidential office excluded the tour press corps from the presidential plane, and to avoid further controversy, did not allow reporters into the summit venue and unilaterally announced only the results without Q&A," urging, "We demand an immediate halt to media control."

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