In late October, President Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, to discuss trade, security cooperation, and technology, ahead of POTUS’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a stop in South Korea in November as part of his Asia tour. He visited the Demilitarized Zone and met with South Korean officials to talk about ways to strengthen and adapt the Republic of Korea (ROK)-U.S. alliance to today’s challenges.
I’ve been covering the ROK’s leftist Lee administration for some time now. The situation in South Korea has gone from bad to worse in a matter of months — and it continues to worsen. Lee’s pro-China ideology carries implications for America’s security interests and position in the Indo-Pacific.
READ MORE: Seoul Doubles Down After Summit, Vowing to Target ‘Far-Right’ Critics at Home and Abroad
Attention Washington: South Korea Is Undergoing an Alarming Anti-US, Pro-CCP Drift
Lawmakers from his Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which holds the majority of seats in the legislature, put forward a bill in early November that would criminalize “anti-China hate speech,” with offenders facing jail time or a heavy fine.
In the meantime, Lee has ordered police to strengthen the crackdown on groups and individuals who express anything deemed “anachronistic discrimination and hatred” — a euphemism for patriots who dare to protest or voice any opposition to Chinese infiltration.
You know the situation is serious when the Global Times, Chinese state-run media, covers Lee’s actions and the proposed “anti-hate speech” law in a positive light. Why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) supports such measures is understandable (of course, unacceptable), but why would South Korea’s president and his party back them? The answer is clear.
The legislation in South Korea sounds all too similar to the authoritarian speech laws in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. Approximately 12,000 individuals across the UK are arrested for speech crimes every year.
This bill should raise concerns in Washington, considering that about 196,664 American citizens currently reside in South Korea.
South Korea, a U.S. ally, has long been a bulwark against communist China. However, the Lee administration’s and the DPK’s criminalization of anti-CCP speech and rallies — while anti-U.S. protests organized by the leftist Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (a participant in the pro-communist, pro-North Korea The People’s Summit for Korea, supported by the CCP-backed Singham Network) have gone unpunished — poses the risk of making South Korea more susceptible to Beijing’s influence operations.
READ MORE: Comrade Mamdani’s Chinese Help
The Lee administration implemented a visa-free travel policy for Chinese tourist groups on September 29. Since then, Chinese tourists have mysteriously gone missing in South Korea.
Authorities apprehended five out of the six Chinese nationals, one of whom had made it to the opposite end of the country, who disappeared after entering South Korea via Incheon on September 29. One remains at large.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported back in April that since June 2024, there were 11 incidents of Chinese nationals illegally photographing and filming military bases in South Korea. Tourists and temporary visitors were the main culprits. Such espionage poses a serious threat to ROK and U.S. security interests, as our military maintains a substantial presence — over 28,500 troops and numerous facilities — on the peninsula.
Imagine all of the military secrets the CCP is looking to steal in order to bolster its own defenses. China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law compels Chinese nationals and companies, at home and abroad, to assist Beijing’s national intelligence work.
The U.S. government must get serious about holding the Lee administration and its political allies accountable for their actions that pose a direct risk to our national security, especially when it involves our top foreign enemy. This is not how an ally is expected to behave.
We have to play it smart, though. South Korea is a strategically located counterbalance to China. Abandoning South Korea would be detrimental to our defense posture in the region and would betray our South Korean patriot allies, who are staunchly pro-U.S. and anti-communist.
South Korea, the world’s second-largest shipbuilder after China, also plays a key role in reviving our Navy and shrinking China’s shipbuilding lead. Recognizing the Navy’s centrality to American power projection in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, President Trump secured a $150 billion South Korean investment in our shipbuilding sector as part of a larger deal.
But the ROK’s strategic importance should not prevent us from holding the Lee administration responsible for its appeasement of China. South Korea’s pro-China, pro-North Korea leftist politicians are skilled at presenting themselves as pro-American when dealing with U.S. officials. It’s ultimately up to us to see through their act and apply pressure accordingly, for the sake of our own interests.
Perhaps the Trump administration is working on something with regard to this that we don’t know about yet. Stay tuned.
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