Seoul: Rival parties clashed Sunday over the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) designation of South Korea as a "sensitive country," with the main opposition party blaming impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's "incompetence."
According to Yonhap News Agency, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) claimed that the diplomatic failure was caused by Yoon's incompetence and his failed martial law bid on Dec. 3, calling for Yoon's immediate removal. "The designation as a 'sensitive country' is the first-ever downgrade of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which has steadily developed since the Korean War," Rep. Cho Seung-rae, the DP's senior spokesperson, said. "The political, economic, diplomatic and security crises unfolding in South Korea are a diplomatic disaster caused by the incompetent President Yoon Suk Yeol, his government and the incompetent ruling party," Cho added.
Cho also accused Yoon and his aides of making "irresponsible statements about nuclear issues" and failing to communicate with the United States during the short-lived martial law. Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) claimed the DP's excessive impeachment attempts had undermined the government's diplomatic efforts. "The DP should refrain from making hasty judgments and politically exploiting this issue," Rep. Kwon Dong-wook, a PPP spokesperson, said in a commentary.
"From January, when South Korea was designated as a sensitive country, until now, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was impeached and suspended from duty," he said, stressing the DP paralyzed the government's diplomatic and negotiation efforts. The DOE put South Korea in the lowest category of its "sensitive and other designated countries list" in early January under the previous Biden administration.