Yoo Seong-min, "Why Doesn't President Yoon Suk-yeol Meet U.S. House Speaker Pelosi When He Has Time to Drink with Actors after the Play?"

President Yoon Suk-yeol joins actors for drinks after watching A Tenant on Subway Line 2 in Daehak-ro along with first lady Kim Keon-hee. Courtesy of the Office of the President

On August 4, former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min criticized President Yoon Suk-yeol for not meeting Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives currently in South Korea, and asked, “What should we make of the president not meeting the U.S. House speaker when he joined the actors for drinks after watching a play in Daehak-ro (the previous day)?”

This day, Yoo wrote a post on his social media titled, “President Yoon Suk-yeol Should Meet U.S. House Speaker Pelosi” and said, “The head of the U.S. Congress, our ally, visited Korea, and I can’t understand why the president is not meeting her.”

The former lawmaker explained, “The U.S. has a presidential system, but Congress plays an important bipartisan role in foreign affairs and security,” and said, “Congress has strong power over the budget including defense expenses, and it also plays an important role in the ROK-US alliance. When President Trump considered scaling back the U.S. Forces in Korea, it was the U.S. Congress that decided to maintain the USFK.”

He further argued, “The House speaker, who is a representative of Congress, ranks third after the vice president in the U.S. Order of Precedence, and when it comes to power in Washington, she is practically number two.” He continued and said, “It was Speaker Pelosi who tore President Trump’s State of the Union address with the whole world watching.”

Former lawmaker Yoo claimed, “When U.S. senators, representatives, state secretaries, and defense secretaries visited South Korea, our former presidents met most of them. They met them regardless of rank, because the ROK-US alliance is that important, and because they played an important role,” and openly criticized the president saying, “Such an important figure is visiting South Korea, yet the president, who is in Seoul, didn’t even meet her. The fact that he is on vacation is not an acceptable excuse.”

Yoo said, “They say Speaker Pelosi will visit the JSA today. The leader of our ally’s parliament is visiting the frontline in our security, yet there will be no meeting with our president. This is not in our best interest, no matter how much I think about it.” He mentioned that the U.S. could think that the president was wary of China and argued that an inconsistent stance in foreign relations early on in the new government’s term did not contribute to our national interests whatsoever. He urged President Yoon to change his mind, even now, and meet Pelosi.