Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung argued last month that the South Korean Navy, the US Navy, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces conducted military exercises together in the East Sea as “extreme pro-Japanese act and pro-Japanese defense.” In response, Seong Il-jong, chairman of the People’s Power Policy Committee, protested, saying, “Isn’t it what you want to do as a presidential power and the party leader to incite anti-Japanese sentiment and instigate people to sing bamboo changga?”

At a meeting of the Supreme Council on the morning of the 7th, CEO Lee Jae-myung said, “If Japan is invited to conduct joint military exercises between South Korea, the US, and Japan, it can be interpreted as recognizing the Japanese Self-Defense Forces as an official military force.”

Representative Lee said, “Our people do not want a South Korea-US-Japan military alliance. In a state where Korea-Japan relations have not been properly established,[the military training of the three countries]can serve as a basis for officially recognizing the Japanese Self-Defense Forces as an army,” he emphasized repeatedly.

He argued, “Why are South Korea, the United States, and Japan conducting joint military exercises near Dokdo?

“I am concerned that what President Yun Seok-yeol said (when he was a presidential candidate), ‘The Japanese Self-Defense Forces could enter the Korean Peninsula in an emergency,’ might come true,” Lee said.

“The South Korean government should apologize and promise not to do it again for the South Korea-US-Japan joint military exercise that can support Japan’s becoming a military superpower and a normal state,” he said. A clear stance on the South Korea-U.S.-Japan military alliance must be made clear,” he added.

In this regard, Seong Il-jong, chairman of the People’s Power Policy Committee, criticized President Lee’s assertion that ‘the three-country military exercise is to recognize Japan’s self-defense as an official military force’ and criticized it as “thin and pro-Japanese.”

Chairman Seong Il-jong said at a government audit countermeasure meeting in the morning of the same day, “Isn’t it what you want to do as a president and party leader to invite Japan to instigate anti-Japanese sentiment and instigate bamboo spears?

Chairman Sung said, “The South Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral joint exercise is being conducted in accordance with the agreement between Defense Minister Song Young-moo, U.S. Defense Secretary Metis, and Japanese Defense Minister Onodera in Clark, Philippines on October 23, 2017, during the Moon Jae-in regime.” pointed out

He said, “CEO Jae-myung Lee said that the South Korea-US-Japan drills are humiliating diplomacy, but is it humiliating diplomacy that the three ministers, including Song Young-moo, agreed in the Moon Jae-in administration? It was his turn,” he pointed out.

“If you are a member of the National Defense Commission, you should know this and ask questions,” he said.