hankyoreh

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at the Blue House in Seoul on Jan. 20, 2026. (pool photo)

In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Lee Jae Myung called for a thorough investigation of the recent incident involving a civilian manufacturing and sending a drone into North Korea, labeling the act “akin to starting a war.” 

The president also asked for “reasonable discussion free from ideology” with regard to the construction of additional nuclear power plants.

“Sending a drone into North Korea for illegal purposes or a civilian penetrating North Korean territory with a drone is something that simply cannot happen,” the president stated in the morning Cabinet meeting at the Blue House. 

“This is akin to wantonly firing a gun at the North, and I don’t understand how [anyone] could be brazen enough to do it,” he said. 

Noting that the individual in question had sent drones on three separate occasions, Lee chastised the Ministry of National Defense for failing to conduct proper checks in areas subject to surveillance and called on the ministry to “improve facilities and equipment to avoid unnecessarily creating an atmosphere of hostility or causing a loss of trust between the two Koreas.”

Lee’s remarks appear to be an attempt to prevent the drone incident from undermining proactive military measures aimed at easing tensions on the peninsula put in place by the administration, including the suspension of loudspeakers and radio broadcasts toward the North. His message to North Korea appears to be that he is well aware of the severity of this incident and will look into the matter to make sure those responsible are held accountable. 

The president ordered a thorough investigation of the drone incident, saying that “an investigation is necessary, but some believe state agencies may be involved.”

On the issue of constructing new nuclear power plants and SMRs (small modular reactors), Lee called for “collecting sufficient feedback, and coming together to debate [the issue] instead of fighting from silos, even if it is a slugfest.” 

“An overwhelming majority of the public believes that nuclear power is essential for solving our electricity problem,” he continued, noting that nuclear power has become an “ideological agenda prone to political fighting instead of rational debate” and giving instructions to minimize politicization of the issue while canvassing opinions. 

Lee’s mention of the overwhelming public support for nuclear power appears to flow on from Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan’s remarks during a Jan. 7 debate on publicizing the construction of new nuclear plants and comments by Kim Yong-beom, the chief presidential secretary for policy, in an interview Friday with the Hankyoreh on the inevitability of building additional nuclear power facilities.

Lee also touched on the issue of “neutrality” in reports and broadcasts on court decisions. Addressing Korea Media and Communications Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol, the president noted, “In cases involving politicians, even if the verdict is not guilty, public broadcasts and generalist channels can be critical of prosecutors failing to appeal,” and stressed the importance of upholding “the duty to maintain a minimum standard of fairness and the public interest.”

By Goh Gyoung-ju, staff reporter

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