Exclusive | South Korea opposition aims to stop military’s Taiwan entanglement

Lawmaker Kim Joon-hyung says the opposition will introduce a bill to prevent South Korea from partnering with the US over Taiwan

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South Korean and US soldiers bump fists as they take part in the joint river crossing operation drill, in Yeoju, South Korea in 2022. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:38pm, 18 Jul 2024Updated: 5:15pm, 18 Jul 2024

South Korea’s opposition parties controlling the National Assembly are set to introduce a bill to prevent the South Korean military from intervening in a crisis over Taiwan, a top opposition leader said on Thursday.

Kim Joon-hyung, interim head of the Rebuilding Korea Party, told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview that his party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea planned to jointly introduce the bill to parliament soon.

“There have been growing discussions in Washington among some military commanders and congressmen that South Korea and Japan should intervene in a crisis over Taiwan”, Kim said.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise self-governed Taiwan as independent, but the US and its allies are opposed to any attempt to take the island by force.

“This law bill aims to prevent the South Korean military from being dragged into such an eventuality and make it focus on its original mission to defend the South from the North’s threats,” Kim said.

Members of the Movement for One Korea protest against the “Freedom Edge” exercise between the US, South Korean and Japanese military forces, outside the US embassy in Seoul on June 27. Photo: EPA-EFE

Political Science Professor Yang Moo-jin, head of the University of North Korean Studies, said the opposition parties were likely to seek consensus with ruling conservative members to pass the bill so that President Yoon Suk-yeol would not exercise his veto right.