A South Korean opposition leader criticized President Yoon Suk-yeol’s foreign policy toward the United States as humiliating on Friday, when speaking of Wednesday’s meeting between Yoon and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden.
“With regard to the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act that were the core agenda (in the Yoon-Biden summit), (Yoon) has not protected our industry and companies at all,” said Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, at a party meeting.
Lee said Yoon’s performance at the meeting ended up in a humiliating situation of generously spreading “global hogang” diplomacy. Hogang, a buzzword in Korean, refers to a customer who is easy to deceive.
Lee also criticized Yoon for his improper positions on the Ukraine crisis and the Taiwan question.
On Thursday, the national youth committee and the national university student committee of the party held a rally in front of South Korea’s National Assembly Proceeding Hall to condemn the government’s diplomatic policy for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Lee also participated in the event.
A joint statement released after the Yoon-Biden talks has caused concerns and criticism in South Korea, with the public opinion saying that the Yoon government is leading the country to “the center of a new Cold War.”
