S. Korean President Emphasizes Resolving Alliance Issues Through Mutual Respect, Expanding Self-Reliant Defense

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- Issues between close allies should be resolved based on mutual respect and fundamental principles, President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday. Lee made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, stressing that "cooperation with traditional allies should also be developed."

"(We) need the wisdom to build healthy, future-oriented relations with traditional allies, while resolving pending issues based on mutual respect, common sense and principles," he told the meeting. "(I) will also devote myself to diplomacy aimed at building genuine friendship with allies, with confidence as a sovereign nation," the president added.

The president did not provide the specific background, but the remarks came amid diplomatic frictions over Washington's reported complaints about Seoul's handling of a massive information breach at Coupang, a U.S.-listed e-commerce firm, and the disclosure by a Seoul minister that Kusong may be a North Korean uranium enrichment site.

Earlier reports suggested that Washington has partially suspended information sharing on North Korea's nuclear facilities with Seoul over Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's public reference to Kusong as a uranium enrichment site, which it believes was based on U.S.-shared intelligence. The minister has repeatedly clarified that his remarks on Kusong were based on publicly available sources, not on any intelligence shared by the U.S.

President Lee also highlighted the military's expanded self-reliant defense capability, pledging to further increase defense spending to ensure standalone defense power. The Lee administration seeks to regain wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington before its five-year term ends in 2030.

During the 1950-53 Korean War, command authority was transferred to the U.S. side, with only peacetime control returned to Seoul in 1994, while wartime control remains with Washington.

"South Korea's own defense capability, excluding U.S. Forces Korea, is the world's fifth-largest, while its annual defense spending is 1.4 times North Korea's annual gross national product," Lee said, also noting that the country's defense exports are the world's fourth-largest.

"Even now, we have enough capability (to defend ourselves on our own), and, going forward, we will further increase defense expenditure," the president said, highlighting the need to make the public aware of this and not worry about national security.

Noting the country's real gross domestic product grew 1.7 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, Lee stressed that the figure is nearly double the earlier estimate and that it marked an "acceleration" of the economic recovery trend that began in the second half of last year.

Still, external economic uncertainties linger due to the prolonged Middle East war, while high oil prices pose risks to the real economy, he said, instructing officials to make all-out efforts to sustain growth.