{"id":24866,"date":"2026-05-21T08:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/24866\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T08:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:15:07","slug":"what-lees-netanyahu-war-criminal-remark-means-for-south-koreas-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/24866\/","title":{"rendered":"What Lee\u2019s Netanyahu \u2018war criminal\u2019 remark means for South Korea\u2019s diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Korean President <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/lee-jae-myung?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lee Jae Myung<\/a>\u2019s declaration that Israeli Prime Minister <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/benjamin-netanyahu?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> was a \u201cwar criminal\u201d underlines the balancing act between his human rights convictions and commitment to protecting Seoul\u2019s interests in the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/middle-east?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Middle East<\/a>, analysts have said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Lee\u2019s comments came as Seoul was pushing for the release of two South Korean nationals detained by Israeli forces while attempting to reach the Gaza Strip aboard humanitarian aid boats, drawing attention to his willingness to speak bluntly on a sensitive diplomatic issue.<\/p>\n<p>Seoul\u2019s presidential office said on Thursday that <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/israel?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Israel<\/a> had released the two South Korean nationals.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe government expresses strong regret over Israel\u2019s detention of our nationals during its seizure of the vessels. However, it highly appreciates Israel\u2019s prompt release of our nationals and welcomes their return,\u201d the office said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung announced their release at a press briefing, after the Lina Al Nabulsi aid boat, which was carrying South Korean activist Kim Ah-hyun and other activists, was intercepted on Monday by the Israeli military in international waters near the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">On Tuesday, Israeli forces seized another aid boat, the Kyriakos X, which was carrying South Korean activist Kim Dong-hyeon and others from around the world.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe Israeli side immediately deported the two South Korean nationals without placing them in a detention centre,\u201d Kang said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korean President Lee Jae Myung\u2019s declaration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a \u201cwar criminal\u201d underlines&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16385,16768,6066,16766,114,1650,16767,31,146,325,16765,4901,112,33,116],"class_list":["post-24866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-human-rights","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israeli","tag-korea","tag-lee-jae-myung","tag-middle-east","tag-netanyahu","tag-oecd","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}