PPP slams diplomat withdrawal from Ukraine as 'emotional response'

• Opposition PPP calls diplomat withdrawal from Ukraine an 'emotional response'.
• Decision follows dispute over transfer of North Korean POWs to South Korea.
• PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig questioned the government's foreign policy alignment.

SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Wednesday criticized the Lee Jae Myung government's decision to withdraw additional diplomatic personnel from Ukraine, describing the move as an "emotional response." The foreign ministry announced the decision on Tuesday, following the recall of its ambassador to Ukraine, amid an ongoing dispute over Kyiv's unilateral disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to South Korea. PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig said the withdrawal decision was difficult to understand unless the government was steering its foreign policy away from the United States and other partner nations, and toward an alignment with North Korea, China and Russia. "The government argues that the withdrawal of its diplomatic personnel is due to the threat of air strikes, but no one is going to take that at face value," Jeong said in a Facebook post. "With the war in Ukraine dragging on for more than four years, why was the (withdrawal) decision made shortly after a dispute erupted over the transfer of North Korean POWs?" he asked. Jeong then urged the Lee government to dismiss Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and Lee Jong-seok, director of the National Intelligence Service, to demonstrate that its foreign policy is not aligned with North Korea, China and Russia. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, Rep. Na Kyung-won and other PPP lawmakers also denounced the government's decision, calling it "diplomatic self-sabotage."