soul —
South Korea’s president has angered the Israeli government by sharing on social media a 2024 video of Israeli soldiers pushing a body from a building in the occupied West Bank.
“We need to confirm whether this is true, and if it is true, we need to clarify what measures have been taken,” President Lee Jae-myung said in an X post on Friday, sparking a rare public spat between the two countries, which have six decades of diplomatic relations.
In his post, Lee said there was “no difference” between wartime murder, the Holocaust, and the sexual slavery of women during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945.
The reference to the Holocaust appears to have angered Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which responded in an X post on Saturday that Lee’s comments were “unacceptable.”
The Israeli post said, “Remarks by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, such as trivializing the massacre of Jews that took place on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, are unacceptable and deserve strong condemnation.”
The Foreign Office post added that “for some strange reason” Mr Lee “chose to cite a fake account that mines the 2024 story and falsely presents it as a current event.”
The incident involving the soldiers occurred during an operation “at a time when Israeli soldiers faced a direct and immediate threat to their lives,” and was “thoroughly investigated and addressed two years ago,” the post said, without elaborating on the outcome.
“Mr. President, it is always better to check before posting,” the ministry added.
In fact, Lee had already clarified his original statement in another post, saying it was an actual event in September 2024 that the US had condemned.
“International humanitarian law must be observed under all circumstances, and human dignity must be upheld as an overriding and irreconcilable value,” Lee added.
CNN reported in 2024 that residents of Kabatiya, near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, filmed Israeli soldiers dumping apparently lifeless bodies from a building on September 19 of the same year.
On the same day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had killed four insurgents in an “anti-terrorist operation” in the area.
Asked about the video at the time, the Israeli military said it showed “a serious incident inconsistent with IDF values and the expectations of IDF soldiers.” It added that the case is currently under review.
International law requires the military to treat the bodies of enemy soldiers with respect and return them to their families. A Palestinian politician called the treatment of the bodies “barbaric”.
Israel is facing growing international criticism over the Gaza war and shelling of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. European countries have been particularly outspoken. But such public criticism by East Asian leaders is much rarer, and South Korea tends to maintain good relations with Israel.
This weekend, Lee appeared to double down on his original tweet, sharing a story on Saturday about the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s response to his comments without directly addressing it.
“It is unfortunate that the government has never taken into account the criticisms of people around the world who are suffering and struggling with persistent anti-human rights and anti-international law acts,” Lee said. “When I feel pain, other people feel it deeply as well.”
In an apparent attempt to lower the temperature, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret hours later that in light of the altercation, the Israeli government had “misunderstood the intent” of the president’s remarks.
Lee’s comments are “an expression of his beliefs about universal human rights, not an opinion on any particular issue,” the post said.
Finally, he reiterated the ministry’s “deep condolences” to the victims of the Holocaust.
But on Sunday, Lee appeared to emphasize his original message in another post.
“The sovereignty of each nation and universal human rights must be respected, and wars of aggression must be rejected,” Lee wrote to X.
“Respect must be earned through respect,” he added.
Israel has not yet responded to the latest post.
