Representative Kim Joon-hyung of the Rebuilding Korea Party claimed during a session at the National Assembly on the 11th that U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg, unable to contact South Korean diplomats immediately after the emergency martial law declaration, reportedly informed Washington that they could no longer engage with the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
He also stated that ambassadors from major allies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia had allegedly met and decided to boycott all international summits, including next year’s APEC meeting in Gyeongju, if Yoon remains president. However, the U.S. Embassy swiftly refuted Kim’s remarks on social media, calling them “utterly false.” The British and Australian embassies also denied the claims.
It is highly unusual for an embassy to directly refute the statements of a local politician or to publicly address internal reports and private meetings involving an ambassador. The U.S. Embassy’s use of strong language, which is rare in diplomatic discourse, and its direct mention of Representative Kim’s name suggest that the claim was deemed a serious instance of “fake news” that could harm the U.S.-South Korea alliance. The fact that three embassies issued consecutive rebuttals highlights the seriousness of the issue.
The APEC meeting mentioned by Representative Kim is a major multilateral diplomatic event involving leaders from 21 countries, including the United States, China, Japan, and Russia. Figures like Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin could potentially attend.
This APEC summit, to be hosted by S. Korea for the first time in 20 years, represents a significant diplomatic stage. Yet, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party has been spreading fake news about a boycott.
Notably, Representative Kim served as president of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, a vice-ministerial position, under the Moon Jae-in administration. During that time, he made controversial remarks, including claims that S. Korea was “addicted to the alliance,” suggesting that S. Korea was overly reliant on the U.S., that the relationship caused psychological harm akin to “gaslighting,” and that U.S. troops acted like an occupying force, with their withdrawal potentially creating conditions for a peace regime..
Similarly, two years ago, Democratic Party spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom also faced backlash for distorting the remarks of the EU ambassador to S. Korea. He falsely claimed that the ambassador had criticized the Yoon administration’s North Korea policy during a meeting with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. Such fabrication of foreign ambassadors’ statements by Democratic Party lawmakers seems aimed at enhancing the credibility of their arguments by exploiting the difficulty of verifying such claims. Now that they perceive themselves as poised to regain power, these tactics are likely to escalate.