Did Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung reveal his pro-China views in his March 22, 2024, speech? No, that's not true: His words were taken out of context and were part of a wider reasoning on diplomatic isolationism.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @user4688440191613 (archived here) on March 24, 2024. It opened with a quote from Lee (translated from Korean to English by Lead Stories staff):
Are there any reasons for us to provoke China? We can just say 'xie xie'
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Mar 28 01:00:50 2024 UTC)
In the full speech (archived here), given at a campaign event for the Democratic Party at a traditional market in Dangjin, ChungCheongNam-do, on March 22, 2024, Lee said (as translated):
Are there any reasons for us to provoke China? We can just say 'xie xie (thank you) to China, and say 'xie xie' to Taiwan too. Why do we have to intervene in the China-Taiwan relation?
In his speech, Korea's opposition leader Lee was criticizing the current government's diplomatic strategy, stressing that diplomatic isolationism is essential to maintain South Korea's economic prosperity. However, the first part of the quote ("We can just say 'xie xie' to China") has been repeatedly shared (archived here and here) on TikTok, without the full context, and has stirred controversy, with the ruling party accusing Lee of being subservient to China (archived here).
The Democratic Party denied the claim in an official statement on March 23, 2024 (archived here), as the ruling People Power Party had mentioned it in an official statement issued on the same date (archived here).
