Is Democratic Party Leader Lee Jae-myung selling South Korea to North Korea? No, that's not true: Lee's speech in January 2024 condemning Kim Jong Un's hostility was taken out of context.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) which was published by @gaesaeggi4865 on March 19, 2024. The caption reads, (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
Lee Jae-myung, who will sell the country to North Korea.
Lee Jae-myung's shocking remarks.
Our North Korea? We should make every effort to undermine the efforts of North Korean leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Mar 25 14:29:29 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories previously verified that Lee did not state he was pro-North Korea during his January 18, 2024, speech (archived here).
At 2:11, Lee said in Korean, as translated by Lead Stories staff:
Chairman Kim Jong Un must stop the missile provocation immediately. Hostile actions must cease. The more reckless provocations continue, the more isolated North Korea will be from the international community, and the suffering of our North Korean people will deepen. Efforts of the predecessors, our North Korean leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, should be preserved and protected from being denigrated or damaged.
Although Lee stated "our North Korea," this was in the context of condemning Kim Jong Un's recent missile provocations and hostility. The Democratic Party also posted a statement on its home page (archived here) explicitly condemning North Korea's missile activities.
The JoongAng article (archived here) reported Lee's "our North Korea" remark that prompted People Power Party (PPP) members to criticize Lee and point out that Lee should apologize to the South Korean people. Donga News (archived here) also reported that the words "we" and "our" were omitted from Lee's official speech on the Democratic Party's website (archived here). The text reads in Korean, as translated by Lead Stories staff:
Chairman Kim Jong Un must stop the missile provocation immediately. Hostile actions must cease. The more reckless provocations continue, the more isolated North Korea will be from the international community, and the suffering of the North Korean people will deepen. Efforts of the predecessors, Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, must be preserved and protected from being denigrated or damaged.
However, Sisa Journal (archived here) reported that a conservative college group reported Lee to the prosecution for violating the National Security Act on January 22, 2024. This was also reported in multiple news outlets as well as the Ministry of Unification North Korean Government Portal, where the information was reposted from Seoul Economic Daily.
