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Embattled envoy to Australia meets with defense acquisition chief

Published: 25 Mar. 2024, 15:04

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Ambassador to Australia Lee Jong-sup arrives at Incheon International Airport on March 21, 2024. [NEWS1]

Ambassador to Australia Lee Jong-sup, who is back in Korea to attend a meeting of diplomatic mission chiefs on defense, met with Seok Jong-un, minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), on Monday.

Lee and Seok discussed defense exports, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Lee was President Yoon Suk Yeol’s first defense minister from May 2022 to October 2023.

Lee returned to Korea on March 21, just 11 days after he departed to assume the position of Korea’s ambassador in Canberra.

His appointment as ambassador faced much criticism from politicians and the public because Lee was under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).

Lee is accused of influencing probes into the death of Lance Corporal Chae Su-geun, who died in July last year while searching for missing people amid heavy rains and flooding that swept Korea.

He allegedly tried to block the Marine Corps’ initial inquiry into Chae’s death and prevented 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.

Lee met with Defense Minister Shin Won-sik when the envoy returned to Korea on March 21. He met with Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul the next day.

The Foreign Ministry told reporters last week that Lee would “meet with the head of DAPA and related defense organizations and hold meetings with other related personnel every day during his visit.”

Upon arrival at Incheon International Airport, Lee rejected the accusations against him as “untrue” and said he welcomed questioning by the CIO during his time back in Seoul.

The meeting of diplomatic mission chiefs on defense will also include the Korean envoys to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Indonesia and Qatar, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The Democratic Party (DP) reported President Yoon and his aides to the CIO last Friday for allegedly falsifying statements regarding Lee's departure.

The DP head earlier reported Yoon, Cho and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae to the CIO on charges of abusing power and helping Lee abscond by appointing him as ambassador.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]