Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Byung-joo (center) speaks during a press conference held at the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to retract his nominations for national security advisor and the defense minister announced the day prior.

The lawmakers of the main and minor opposition parties on the National Assembly defense committee held a joint press conference Tuesday, slamming the president as “damaging national interest at the key diplomatic moment” with his picks.

In a surprise shake-up, Yoon on Monday tapped Shin Won-sik, who is serving as defense minister, as his national security adviser and Kim Yong-hyun, who is heading the presidential security service, as defense minister.

Four-star general-turned-Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Rep. Kim Byung-joo criticized both nominees as being “worthy of dismissal, not key posts in the administration.”

He accused Shin, who will remain defense minister until the confirmation hearing, of “causing diplomatic troubles to the country more than a few times” with his hawkish remarks toward Russia and North Korea.

The defense minister has yet to be held responsible for the recent allegations of leaks at the Defense Intelligence Command as well, he said.

“The Yoon administration’s failures to bring North Korea back to dialogue as Russia engages in a dangerous alliance with the North are reprehensible, and Shin played a central role in shaping such a hostile climate in the Korean Peninsula,” the lawmaker said.

He also pointed out that Shin, a retired three-star general, lacked the background in diplomacy or foreign affairs that many former national security advisers possess.

“If Shin were to take the helm of South Korea’s security and diplomacy as an adviser, a national security disaster is feared.”

The ruling People Power Party in a statement Tuesday characterized the latest nominations as “an apt reflection of rapidly changing security environment,” with North Korea and Russia getting closer and the prolonged war in Ukraine.

Ruling People Power Party Rep. Han Ki-ho, also on the Assembly defense committee, told The Korea Herald that the proposed shake-up “seem to be intended to place more focus on security, rather than diplomacy.”