The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an op-ed on Monday by two conservative figures, labeling the Lee Jae-myung administration as "Hard Left" and suggesting it could negatively impact the ROK-US alliance, as widely reported by South Korean media.

The commentary, titled "South Korea Swings Hard Left on America," was contributed to the WSJ by Nicholas Eberstadt, a researcher at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Lawrence Peck, an advisor to the North Korea Freedom Coalition.

In their op-ed, they referred to the special prosecutor's search and seizure at Osan Air Base, stating, "South Korean authorities, using domestic investigations as a pretext, stormed a command center on a U.S. military base and seized information related to U.S. Air Force flights."

Regarding the Coupang situation, they pointed out, "South Korean lawmakers and prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Coupang, a successful American company, citing what appeared to be an accidental data leak. Meanwhile, South Korean and Chinese companies that engaged in more serious and intentional data leaks faced no significant sanctions."

They also addressed the controversy surrounding then-Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's remarks on shared ROK-US classified intelligence, stating, "A South Korean government minister publicly commented on what is believed to be classified information regarding North Korea's nuclear facilities. This effectively exposed to North Korea information that the United States had shared with South Korea based on trust."

The authors argued that the ROK-US alliance is currently grappling not only with the unpredictable Trump administration but also with the "predictable recklessness of a hard-left South Korean government." They asserted that attention should not be solely focused on President Trump, who treats allies unilaterally, but also on the South Korean government, as the other party in the alliance.

Furthermore, discussing the "controversy over the special prosecutor bill for the withdrawal of prosecution," they claimed, "The hard-left leadership of the Democratic Party tends to disdain liberals. Critics view their ultimate goal as extensive legal revisions that would enable their long-term rule, and they see the hard-won constitutional order of liberal democracy in South Korea as being threatened."

The contributors noted that while the U.S. viewed the Lee Jae-myung administration as "progressive" and the Yoon Suk-yeol administration as "conservative," the Democratic Party of Korea "participated in the 100th-anniversary celebration of the Chinese Communist Party held in Beijing, China, in 2021." They pointed out that "the flag of the Democratic Party was displayed alongside those of the Chinese Communist Party and other communist and authoritarian parties," and added that the politics demonstrated by figures of the Democratic Party "evoke memories of national liberation movements."

They mentioned a "pro-Pyongyang underground movement" and presented the fact that Kim Min-seok, then-Prime Minister, had participated in a student protest that attacked and occupied the U.S. Cultural Center in Seoul in 1985.

Additionally, they argued that South Korea is showing a tendency to reduce cooperation with U.S. security initiatives rather than expand it, citing South Korea's failure to provide direct support for securing passage in the Strait of Hormuz, its offer of humanitarian aid and separate diplomatic dialogue to Iran, and Lee Jae-myung's criticism of Israel.

Eberstadt has researched Korean Peninsula and Asian security at AEI and was a founding member of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Peck, a North Korean human rights activist, is known for monitoring the activities of pro-North Korean organizations and individuals within the United States.

By Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter for NNP, USA / Special Correspondent for this publication NNP info@newsandpost.com