President Lee Jae Myung is seen during a combined Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session held at the Blue House on May 20. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday sharply criticized Israel's recent seizure of two Gaza-bound aid ships carrying Korean activists and publicly instructed officials to review the possibility of issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, remarks that will likely strain Seoul's relations with both Israel and Washington.
“How is it reasonable to seize a third-country ship of people who said they were going to volunteer, then arrest and detain them?” President Lee said during a combined Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session held at the Blue House in central Seoul.
“This is far too inhumane and excessive.”
After receiving a Foreign Ministry briefing on plans to protect Korean citizens amid the Middle East war, he pressed officials on the legality of Israel's action.
“What's the legal basis for the seizure? Were those Israeli territorial waters?” Lee asked.
“Did the vessel infringe on Israeli sovereignty? Is Gaza not unrelated to Israel?”
The Israeli navy has recently seized two Gaza-bound aid vessels carrying Korean activists, the Korean Flotilla for a Free Palestine (KFFP) said. The Kyriakos X, with Korean activist Kim Dong-hyeon onboard, was intercepted in international waters near Cyprus on Monday.
President Lee Jae Myung gestures during a combined Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session held at the Blue House on May 20. [YONHAP]
On Tuesday evening, Israeli forces also seized the Lina Al Nabulsi, which was carrying KFFP activist Kim Ah-hyun and Korean-American Jonathan Victor Lee.
When Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jin-ah hesitated to respond during the meeting, the president pressed her further.
“Is it that you don't know, or that you're not saying because the position is awkward?” President Lee said. “Just say what you know. You're not the Israeli government.”
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said the seizure had not taken place in Israeli territorial waters but that Israel exercised military control over the entire Gaza area. The president pushed back.
“Just because Israel has invaded another country and is in combat, does that mean it can seize and take away third-country ships?” the President said. “If it wasn't in Israeli territorial waters, shouldn't we be protesting? Aren't they detaining our citizens for reasons that aren't valid under international law?”
Wi said he would review the matter and report back separately.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on April 21. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
President Lee also raised the prospect of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has recognized Netanyahu as a war criminal, and an arrest warrant has been issued,” the president said. “Almost all European countries have now announced that they will arrest him if he enters their territory.”
When Wi clarified this was not the case for most countries, Lee disagreed.
“From what I've seen, there are quite a few,” Lee said. “Let's consider issuing one as well.”
The ICC issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu over war crimes charges in November 2024. Several European nations voiced their support: a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry said France would “act in line with the ICC's statutes”; Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said arresting Netanyahu if he came to Italy was “not a political decision but the enforcement of international legislation”; and Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said the Netherlands would “abide 100% by the Rome Statute.”
The problem, observers say, is that the United States — Korea's key ally — has strongly opposed the warrant. The White House's National Security Council said immediately after the ICC ruling that the U.S. “fundamentally rejects” the decision.
“We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” then-President Joe Biden said in a statement on Nov. 21, 2024.
Under the second Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio in December last year designated two ICC judges involved in issuing the warrant as targets of sanctions, heightening pushback.
A boat bearing symbols of one of the vessels belonging to the Gaza-bound aid flotilla and intercepted by the Israeli navy, is motored towards the Israeli port of Ashdod, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Tel Aviv, on May 19. [AFP/YONHAP]
Some experts also argued that the remarks were inappropriate from a practical diplomatic standpoint.
“Gaza remains in a quasi-wartime state because of Hamas, and Israel inevitably reacts sensitively to unidentified vessels heading toward the area,” said Jang Ji-hyang, director of the Center for Regional Studies at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “This statement will negatively affect both the process of securing the release of the Koreans detained by Israel and Korea-Israel corporate cooperation in advanced technology sectors.”
Opposition parties uniformly criticized the president.
Park Choong-kwon, spokesperson for the People Power Party's central election committee, said in a statement that the President's comments were “a reckless provocation that forgets the national interest” and “an irresponsible gamble that erodes Korea's diplomatic credibility and directly threatens the safety of more than 700 Koreans living in Israel.”
Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party, also chided the president on social media.
“For goodness' sake, exercise self-restraint,” Lee Jun-seok wrote. “Please be the president of Korea who understands the weight of words that can mean life or death for the country, not the Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae Myung, who used to pour out whatever came to mind on Twitter.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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