SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Thursday criticized President Lee Jae Myung's remarks portraying the reduction of South Korea-U.S. military exercises as a big decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, calling it "an unprecedented moral victory."

Jang, leader of the main opposition People Power Party, made the criticism at a party leadership meeting in Seoul in response to remarks Lee posted on X late Wednesday, hours after the allies announced their decision to cut short the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise on Trump's orders.

"President Lee posted a message on social media in the middle of the night as he was driven into a corner. It was a pitiful denial of reality," Jang said.

"The whole world already knows the cause of the crisis. Aren't the 'no thanks' to the U.S. war against Iran and the delay in investment in the U.S. the real causes?" he said, referring to South Korea's reluctance to join the U.S. military campaign in the Middle East.

Jang went on to say that President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would say "no thanks" even if President Lee volunteered to act as a pacemaker on his own.

"Economic retaliation, including tariff hikes, will follow. Our people and businesses will suffer, while only North Korea, China and Russia will be smiling," Jang said.

"President Lee has abandoned security, diplomacy and the economy. The Lee administration has abandoned the people and soon the people will abandon the Lee administration," he said.

ycm@yna.co.kr

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