Controversial envoy returns to Korea amid bipartisan calls for investigation

Ambassador to Australia Lee Jong-sup arrives at Incheon International Airport on Thursday. [NEWS1]

The Foreign Ministry said Thursday that former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, currently ambassador to Australia, returned to Korea that morning to attend a meeting on defense.

Lee’s return comes 11 days after he left to assume the position of Korea's ambassador in Canberra, amid criticism of his appointment and departure given the investigation against him by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).

Lee, who served as President Yoon Suk Yeol's first defense minister from May 2022 to October 2023, was appointed Korea's ambassador to Australia last month.

His appointment met with a backlash as Lee is under investigation by the CIO for allegedly influencing probes into the death of Lance Corporal Chae Su-guen, who died in July last year while searching for missing people in the wake of heavy rains and flooding that had swept the country.

Lee has been accused of allegedly trying to block the Marine Corps’ initial inquiry into Chae’s death and preventing it from being transferred to the police. Lee resigned as defense minister in October last year, just before the Democratic Party (DP) could pass a motion to impeach him.

The DP criticized Lee’s appointment and reported President Yoon, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae to the CIO on charges of abuse of power and helping a criminal abscond overseas.

Upon arriving at Incheon International Airport, Lee told reporters that he had returned to Korea to attend a meeting of diplomatic mission chiefs related to defense industry cooperation and would welcome the CIO's questioning while he was in Seoul.

“I hope that schedule coordination with the CIO will go well so that I can undergo questioning while staying here,” Lee said. "Regarding the various suspicions raised about me, I have clearly stated on several occasions that they are untrue."

Korean envoys to Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Indonesia and Qatar will gather for the meeting on defense industry cooperation, according to the Foreign Ministry.

A group of DP lawmakers gathered at Incheon International Airport to condemn Lee, reiterating their call for Yoon to cancel Lee’s appointment.

“This is an international disgrace and diplomatic discourtesy to Australia,” DP floor leader Hong Ihk-pyo said.

People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Han Dong-hoon previously called for Lee’s return to Korea, telling reporters that he believed authorities should summon Lee and that the ambassador “should return to Korea immediately” for the CIO investigation.

The presidential office on Monday said “there was no problem at all” regarding Lee’s appointment and that “it is highly inappropriate for the head of an overseas mission to return home and wait indefinitely without a summons.”

Han’s calling for Lee’s return showed a rift between the PPP chief and Yoon’s government ahead of the April 10 general election.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]