Leftist candidate’s comments are sure to stoke tension with Washington.
South Korea’s top liberal presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung argued this week that the United States should transfer wartime operational control (OPCON) to Seoul as soon as possible. Critics have said that South Korea does not meet the conditions for such a transfer, which could threaten the country’s security as North Korea continues to build its capabilities.
Lee attended a debate held by the Korea News Editor’s Association at the National Press Center on Thursday. He said, “There is no case around the world where a sovereign state leaves military operational control to another country.” Lee went on, “We need to end the verification process as early as possible by following the previously-agreed-upon protocol.”
“We can just transfer OPCON. Why are they saying that we need to verify our capability?” he asked. “The key to a sovereign state is a military sovereignty and operational control sovereignty. Leaving this sovereignty to another country is nonsense and very exceptional.”
He continued as follows:
“I just cannot understand how people think that it is not possible to defend ourselves unless we leave that [OPCON] to the United States. There are some people thinking that way in the military, and that just shocks me.”
Regarding the Moon Jae-in administration’s North Korea policy, Lee said, “I think they did their best but there are some things where I think they were lacking.” Lee argued that “they should not make an agreement that they cannot keep to, and if they made an agreement, they should have followed the agreement, but I think they did not do so well.” He added, “I will say what I have to say to North Korea, and I will prevent people from calling me humiliated.”
He was also asked about his thoughts on declaring an end to the Korean War. “The leaders of the two Koreas already agreed on this twice, and I think we have to declare the end of the war by all means even if it is symbolic,” he said.
“I think North Korea wants something in return rather than declaring it right away, and the United States seems to be the same,” Lee said. “Japan, on the other hand, opposes it openly, but the victim of the Korean War is us, so we have to take charge and declare an end to the war as soon as possible.” He did not specify who “we” is.
The South Korean conservative Munhwa Ilbo newspaper ran an editorial on Friday criticizing Lee’s comments, as they could destroy the alliance with the United States.
The newspaper argued that Lee’s comments represent populism on national security that defy a basic understanding of history. OPCON was given to the United Nations Command during the early stages of the Korean War, and President Syngman Rhee achieved signing the Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States by taking difficult measures such as releasing anti-communist prisoners of war to have U.S. troops stay in Korea. The editorial said that the mutual defense treaty helped South Korea defend its national security and allowed it to become the 10th biggest economic power in the world.
It also pointed out the fact that European countries chose to defend themselves through NATO, where the U.S. commander is in charge of leading the NATO military. It noted that the mutual defense treaty between the United States and Japan allows the United States to defend Japan’s national security. This means that Lee’s comment that “there is no case around the world that a sovereign state leaves military operational control to another country” is blatantly false.
Lee’s previous comments also presented distorted historical views related to the United States. Lee suggested that the United States is responsible for the Japanese colonization of Korea and possibly the Korean War in a meeting with U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) in November. Lee said that “the reason why South Korea was merged with Japan was due to the United States, which approved the Taft-Katsura Agreement.” The agreement was made between the United States Secretary of War William Howard Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro in July 1905. They discussed East Asian affairs in the aftermath of Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War. At that time, Katsura observed that the Japanese colonization of Korea was a matter of absolute importance, as he considered Korea a direct cause of the recently-concluded Russo-Japanese War.
The Munhwa Ilbo newspaper said that “the Joseon Dynasty collapsed since it did not have the power to defend itself. Blaming the United States for the collapse is something that incites anti-American sentiment by distorting fact.”
Meanwhile, the latest poll by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Kantar Korea on Friday showed Lee leading the conservative candidate Yoon Seok-youl by 32.4 percent to 31.4 percent. Ahn Cheol-soo from the People’s Party followed them with 6.2 percent, and Sim Sang-jung from the far-left Justice Party received 3.7 percent. A further 21.9 percent of respondents were undecided.
