Overview
- Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok used a National Assembly address on Monday to call for stronger South Korean independent security capabilities and said Seoul should prepare for a possible “freeze‑first, resolve‑later” U.S.-North Korea approach.
- People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig answered in a Tuesday speech by demanding tougher nuclear deterrence, explicitly proposing U.S. nuclear sharing, redeployment of tactical weapons to the peninsula, and training to arm F-35 jets with tactical warheads.
- Both speeches were prompted by President Trump’s recent order to scale back a major U.S.-ROK exercise and his renewed openness to meet Kim Jong-un, moves that opposition leaders say could weaken allied deterrence and sideline Seoul in talks with Pyongyang.
- Jeong cited media reports of military readiness problems, including underarmed guard posts and a friendly-fire drone incident, to argue that conciliatory policies and the Lee administration’s “peace regime” proposals risk lowering defense readiness.
- The debate is tied to a broader partisan fight over constitutional revision and to North Korea’s shift toward treating the two Koreas as separate states, a change that raises hard choices for Seoul about engagement, alliance reliance, and long-term deterrence.