Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Monday criticized a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as "submissive diplomacy," while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) touted it as a chance to normalize bilateral relations.
Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, made the remarks a day after Yoon's summit with Kishida in Seoul, as the neighboring nations are on course to restore relations strained over issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.
"The president, in the end, disobeyed the people's order to redress the submissive diplomacy of giving away everything," Lee said during a party meeting.
The opposition leader also slammed Yoon for not addressing thorny historical issues, such as Japan's colonial-era misdeeds and territorial claim to Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.
He further urged the government not to brag about Sunday's summit as the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" of regular visits between the leaders of the two countries.
Instead, he called on the Yoon administration to listen carefully to people's mockery of calling it "bread shuttle diplomacy." The term "bread shuttle" refers to a unique Korean practice in which school children torment their peers by demanding they fetch items, such as snacks or cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the PPP defended the summit, stating that it produced meaningful results and helped put Seoul-Tokyo relations back on track.
"South Korea-Japan relations are making their way out of a long and dark tunnel," Kim Gi-hyeon, the leader of the PPP, said in a Facebook post.
Kim also emphasized the outcome in the economic sector, such as an agreement to strengthen semiconductor supply chains through closer coordination between Korean semiconductor manufacturers and Japanese component and equipment makers.
"Economic and security cooperation with Japan is not a choice but a must," he said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency