The Wall Street Journal published an online op-ed on Monday in which two US conservative figures labeled the Lee Jae-myung administration a "hard-left" government and argued it could negatively affect the South Korea-US alliance.
Nicholas Eberstadt, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a US conservative think tank, and Lawrence Peck, an advisor to the North Korea Freedom Coalition, contributed the column titled "South Korea Takes a Hard Left Turn on America" to the WSJ.
Citing the special counsel's search and seizure at Osan Air Base, which is jointly used by the South Korean military and US Forces Korea, the investigation into the Coupang personal information leak, and the controversy over Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks about disclosing classified intelligence shared between South Korea and the US, the authors argued that "the US-South Korea alliance is now grappling not only with the unpredictability of the Donald Trump administration but also with the recklessness of South Korea's hard-left government."
They also raised the "controversy over the special counsel bill on withdrawal of indictments," expressing concern that various legal revisions being pursued by President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party of Korea could lead to a concentration of power over the long term. In particular, they emphasized that South Korea is showing an attitude of reducing rather than expanding cooperation with the US security agenda, citing Seoul's failure to provide direct support for securing passage through the Strait of Hormuz, its proposal to offer humanitarian aid to Iran and pursue separate diplomatic dialogue, and President Lee's criticism of Israel.
"The US has many friends and allies in South Korea, but they are not in the Democratic Party," Eberstadt and Peck wrote. "Until the US government wakes up, threats to liberty in South Korea and to the South Korea-US alliance are likely to grow."
However, counterarguments may emerge that the alliance-related portion of their claims is not a matter of grave concern. South Korea and the US plan to hold a launch meeting this week in Seoul for a working-level consultative body to implement last year's summit agreement (fact sheet) between the two leaders, including the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for South Korea. In addition, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth highly praised South Korea's decision to increase defense spending in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore on May 30 (local time), citing South Korea as a model ally.
Eberstadt has researched Asian security including the Korean Peninsula at AEI and was a founding member of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Peck, a North Korean human rights activist, is known for primarily monitoring the activities of pro-North Korean organizations and individuals within the United States.
