Why Did President Lee Intervene on Social Media Right Before the 'Hormuz Talks'? Disturbing Middle East Human Rights Abuse Video Sparks Uproar

On the 10th, President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea shared on his personal social media an alleged human rights abuse video involving the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from two years ago, prompting heated debate over his motives. The footage he posted shows men believed to be IDF soldiers using their boots to nudge a person who is barely hanging onto a rooftop, causing the person to fall in a horrifying scene.
This intervention on social media comes at a highly sensitive moment, just before negotiations between the South Korean government and the Islamic Republic of Iran over the release of 26 South Korean ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, further intensifying controversy. Lee Jae-myung has so far pursued what is seen as a pragmatic foreign policy, refraining as much as possible from involvement in issues concerning other countries such as China and Taiwan. His latest decision to share this video, however, marks a departure from that stance.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter) the same day, Lee Jae-myung shared a video that he said shows the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) torturing a Palestinian and then throwing the person off a building, and commented, "There is no difference between the forced mobilization of comfort women that we condemn, the massacre of Jews, or killings committed during wartime."
He later added another post, explaining, "The footage shows a real incident that occurred in September 2024, which the White House described as extremely shocking, and U.S. officials including John Kirby called a disgusting and unacceptable act. I understand that Israel subsequently carried out an investigation and took related measures."
Lee Jae-myung’s latest social media post effectively aligns him with the Iranian side, which has long voiced support for Palestine. The People Power Party (PPP), however, took a critical view of his move. The PPP asked, "As a former human rights lawyer, you show such extraordinary concern for human rights in other countries, so why do you turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses suffered by 26 million compatriots in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)?" The party argued that Kim Jong Un recently enacted the Three Anti-Korean Wave Laws—the Law on Rejecting Reactionary Ideology and Culture, the Youth Education Guarantee Act, and the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act—and that 30 middle school students were executed collectively simply for watching Korean drama (K-drama), yet the Democratic Party of Korea government has consistently looked the other way.
The People Power Party (PPP) further criticized, "The Democratic Party of Korea, which has produced two presidents who were once human rights lawyers, has not only blocked the launch of the North Korea Human Rights Foundation for ten years, but has also kept the Report on North Korean Human Rights under wraps." The party added, "At a time when the Middle East is already on edge with the drumbeats of a possible war involving the Islamic Republic of Iran, using an unverified video to send the wrong signal to our ally, the United States of America (U.S.), is clearly a diplomatic disaster."
The People Power Party (PPP) also recalled that in January, the president posted a message in the Cambodian language saying, in effect, "If you touch a Korean, your life will be ruined," only to delete it within two days after protests from the Government of Cambodia. The PPP said the public remembers this episode clearly, and demanded that he immediately delete the current post as well and issue a clear apology to the South Korean people and the international community.

rainman@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Kyung-soo Reporter