South Korean opposition lawmakers continued to claim Monday that US Amb. Philip Goldberg in Seoul complained to Washington about the Yoon Suk Yeol administration following the short-lived martial law decree.
Rep. Kim Joon-hyung, who was chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy from 2019 to 2021, claimed he heard from “highly credible sources” that the US ambassador recently communicated his criticism of the Yoon administration to Washington.
“I would like to make it very clear that I have confirmed through highly credible sources that Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul did not pick up the phone when the US ambassador called him,” said Kim, a first-term lawmaker with the Democratic Party of Korea’s spin-off Rebuilding Korea Party.
The liberal third party lawmaker continued, “I don’t think the ambassador appreciated it, under such urgent circumstances, and if he did not report back to Washington with some complaints about Seoul not taking his calls, then he wouldn’t be doing his job.”
Kim was speaking at a meeting of the National Assembly foreign affairs committee, where ruling People Power Party lawmakers asked him to apologize for his remarks at the previous foreign committee meeting held on Dec. 11. The Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker had claimed then that the US ambassador told Washington he “cannot deal with Yoon government officials.”
Kim’s claims were immediately denied by the US Embassy in Seoul. In a brief statement issued the next day, the US Embassy said the “allegations made in the media by Rep. Kim Joon-hyung” are “utterly false.”
At the Dec. 11 foreign affairs committee meeting, the Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker also claimed that the ambassadors of the countries of the US-led intelligence alliance, Five Eyes, said they decided to boycott the 2025 meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation that South Korea is hosting.
The UK and Australian embassies in Seoul have since rejected those claims.
After the Rebuilding Party Korea lawmaker refused to apologize, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, the former chair of the People Power Party, pointed out a similar past blunder by the Democratic Party.
He said the Democratic Party told reporters in 2022 that European Union Ambassador Maria Castillo Fernandez, in a closed-door meeting with Democratic Party chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung, criticized the Yoon government for not having the means to communicate with North Korea.
“The EU Embassy at the time said that this was not true,” the People Power Party lawmaker said. “It is very worrying that some lawmakers are risking diplomatic troubles only to advance the political interests of their party.”
In a press conference after Monday’s meeting of the foreign affairs committee, Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers defended the Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker.
Rep. Kim Young-bae, the Democratic Party deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee, said the ruling party was “trying to turn the tables” by questioning an opposition lawmaker. “The martial law declaration was so illegitimate that the government couldn’t even discuss it with the US ambassador,” he said.
Adding that lawmakers are “immune from liability for any remarks made on the floors of the Assembly,” he said, “Rep. Kim Joon-hyung has said repeatedly that he would take responsibility for what he said.”
Speaking at the same press conference, Rep. Kim Joon-hyung stood by his statements. He said those in Washington were speaking directly with opposition lawmakers in what he said was an “attempt to try to keep their distance from the Yoon administration.”
Speaking to The Korea Herald, the Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker said his sources did not give him the direct quote of the US ambassador in English. “It was passed on to me in Korean.”
Rep. Kim Joon-hyung was elected in April through proportional representation with the Rebuilding Korea Party founded by Cho Kuk, who served as justice minister under the previous Democratic Party President Moon Jae-in. Cho lost his parliamentary seat last week after the top court upheld a two-year jail term related to academic fraud.
