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President Lee Jae-myung and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok enter a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on July 5. / Source: Yonhap News

The conservative People Power Party (PPP) sharply criticized the Lee Jae-myung administration on July 6 for slashing ₩905 billion from the defense budget during the second supplementary budget process, accusing the government of “sacrificing national security for populist handouts.”

PPP floor spokesperson Park Sung-hoon stated, “President Lee’s so-called 'peace is economy' slogan appears to mean diverting defense funds to distribute cash,” adding that ₩878 billion worth of defense cuts, including the second phase of the Apache heavy attack helicopter program, had been made without prior explanation to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee.

Park emphasized that vital defense spending—such as upgrades to the GOP (General Outpost) surveillance system, procurement of special operations handguns and mobile long-range radar, and the construction of official housing—was unjustly sacrificed. “If funding was really needed, the Democratic Party should have first withdrawn its call to scrap the presidential office’s special activity funds. Instead, the Lee administration chose to slash military capability enhancement.”

He warned that security threats surrounding the Korean Peninsula are intensifying. “North Korea is rapidly advancing its five strategic weapons, including solid-fuel ICBMs and nuclear-powered submarines, and is gaining real combat experience through troop deployments in the Ukraine war. What we need now is a strong and capable military.”

Park also criticized the nomination of a defense minister candidate who only completed six months of mandatory military service as a conscript, calling it “effectively an abandonment of the nation’s final line of defense.”

“National security is not an ATM for the ruling party’s populist agendas,” he declared. “The PPP strongly condemns this irresponsible budget manipulation and the Democratic Party’s concealment of the cuts. We will stand firm against any populist push that comes at the expense of national security.”