There is anger among not only Korean Americans in the United States but also members of the main opposition party toward South Korea’s Ambassador to the United States, Lee Soo-hyuck, for his lack of response to the recent shooting in Atlanta, GA, even though four of the eight victims killed at Gold Massage Spa and Aromatherapy Spa were found to be of Korean descent. According to the Korean media, one of them was confirmed to be a Korean national.
Ambassador Lee did not meet with families of the victims after the incident. The Korean embassy said that the Consulate General in Atlanta took care of the issue. However, some criticized Lee for not even attending a funeral of one of the victims held near Washington D.C. The embassy sent the consul general in Washington D.C. to the funeral.
U.S. President Joe Biden visited Atlanta within a few days of the shooting and denounced the possible hate crime. “Hate can have no safe harbor in America,” he said. “It must stop.”
Lawmakers from South Korea’s main opposition party, the People Power Party (PPP), held a press conference late last month and argued that Ambassador Lee should be replaced. “The funerals of three of four Korean victims were already completed, but Ambassador Lee didn’t attend any of them,” they said. “Reportedly, he did not even attend any of the gatherings that people held across the United States to commemorate their lives.”
The PPP lawmakers criticized Lee for not even attending the funeral near Washington D.C. as well. “U.S. President Joe Biden went straight to Atlanta just a few days after the shooting to offer words of consolation to Asian-Americans, including those who are of Korean descent, but Ambassador Lee Su-hyuck, who represents the Republic of Korea, turned away from our citizens’ well-being and safety,” they said. “He no longer is qualified to be ambassador.”
Fellow PPP lawmaker Kim Ki-hyun joined the party in criticizing not only Ambassador Lee, but also the Moon Jae-in administration as a whole. “The Moon administration calls for ‘human rights’ whenever they talk, but this case clearly shows their two-faced true colors.”
Lee, a career diplomat who became a politician before being appointed ambassador, has faced criticism over his repeated remarks that seem to devalue the country’s alliance with the United States.
“Just because Korea chose the U.S. seventy years ago does not mean it has to choose the U.S. for the next seventy years,” Lee said during the audit of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in October. “Korea can choose to keep siding with the U.S. only if it is able to love the country and if it serves the nation’s interests.” His remarks came amid conflict between the United States and China, with each apparently urging countries to pick a side.
“The Korea-U.S. alliance is not only a military alliance, but a comprehensive one with economic, social and cultural aspects,” he said. “But when we see past [conflicts with China] such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD), we have experienced the importance of China in economic aspects.”
Within less than a day, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement in response to Lee’s remarks. It told Radio Free Asia that “We are extremely proud of our 70-year-old alliance and all it has done for the sake of peace and prosperity in the U.S. and ROK, and the region as a whole.” The statement added that “Based on our shared values, our two countries are constantly working together as allies and friends to ensure that our alliance is able to meet new and emerging challenges in the region, including those that would seek to undermine the rules-based international order.”
This was not the first time that Lee’s remarks have stirred controversy. In June 2020, Lee told South Korean media in Washington D.C. that “Korea is not a country forced to make a choice between the U.S. and China anymore – we are proud that we can make a choice on our own.”
At that time, a spokesperson from the Department of State gave the Voice of America (VOA) a statement regarding Lee’s remarks.
“The ROK already chose a side when it abandoned authoritarianism and embraced democracy several decades ago. The U.S.-ROK alliance is strong and vital for regional peace and stability.”
At that time, experts said that it is very rare for the State Department to make comments on the remarks made by the ambassador, who represents Korea in the United States. Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the PPP at that time, criticized Lee’s remarks as well. “[If we became a country that can choose between the United States and China] why can’t this country say something straight to North Korea and not always follow what Pyongyang tells us to do,” he said. “I cannot understand this situation and the government should come up with a clear stance toward North Korea so that the people’s pride doesn’t get hurt anymore.”
Meanwhile, Ambassador Lee, when he was a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party (DP), co-sponsored a bill to amend the “Act on Finding the Truth of the Damage from North Korea’s Abduction during the Korean War” in August 2018. The bill was filed by Song Gap-seok of the DP and 12 people from the party, including Lee, co-sponsored it.
The bill proposed changing the term “the persons abducted by North Korea” to “missing persons.” Song said that North Korea is repulsed by this term and that the National Assembly should create legal grounds to avoid conflicts in inter-Korean relations. He added that the purpose of the bill is to make an amendment to the ideological term (abductees).
Kim Tae-hoon, President of Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea, said this change will cause significant problems if passed. “According to the proposal, those who were abducted by North Korea, willingly crossed to North Korea, and went missing in another country will not be differentiated and will all be called ‘missing persons,’” he said. “If the term abduction is removed, then it will be very vague on who is responsible for it.”
The bill, however, was withdrawn after strong backlash from the public.
Lee headed the South Korean delegation in the six-party talks during the Roh Mu-hyun administration, and worked as Deputy Foreign Minister, Ambassador to Germany, and First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service. Moon Jae-in, who led the DP ahead of 2016 general election, recruited Lee to join politics.
