▲ Former National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han sits in the presidential office in central Seoul on March 29, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

main opposition-ex-security adviser

Main opposition calls for explanation on replacement of nat'l security adviser

SEOUL, March 30 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to explain why former National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han resigned ahead of Yoon's state visit to the United States next month.

On Wednesday, Yoon accepted Kim's resignation offer and tapped Cho Tae-yong, Seoul's ambassador to the U.S., as the new national security adviser.

The resignation came amid reports of trouble over a planning issue related to Yoon's upcoming trip to Washington, including a state dinner with President Joe Biden.

Rep. Park Hong-keun, the DP's floor leader, raised suspicions of problems within the presidential National Security Office, citing reports that there was a power struggle and a conflict between an official close to first lady Kim Keon Hee and another official formerly from the foreign ministry.

Park said the people are concerned Yoon's trip to Washington will end up like his trip to Japan earlier this month, calling on Yoon to not risk the "national interest" and "people's dignity" when the future of domestic companies are at stake in his trip to the U.S.

The DP has denounced Yoon's summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as the worst diplomatic humiliation in history, raising suspicions the president made secret concessions on the matters of the easternmost islets of Dokdo, Japan's wartime sexual slavery and the import ban on fisheries product from the Fukushima region.

Yoon's office said it cannot disclose the details of the summit discussions, but the issues of sexual slavery and Dokdo were not discussed during the summit.

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