Opposition Criticizes Lee’s Golf Outing During Daegu Emergency

South Korea’s main opposition party intensified criticism of President Lee Jae Myung on Monday over a weekend golf outing that coincided with an emergency response to a supermarket ceiling collapse in Daegu, opening a new dispute over presidential conduct during a public safety incident.

The People Power Party questioned whether Lee could properly monitor the situation and direct rescue work while playing golf at Taereung Country Club in northern Seoul. Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok argued that a brief instruction issued from the course did not meet the standard expected of a president responsible for public safety.

The ceiling collapse occurred Saturday morning and injured 38 people. The presidential office said Lee received reports about the accident and immediately ordered officials to carry out rescue operations thoroughly. Its account presented the president as remaining engaged with the response despite being away from his official workplace.

The opposition rejected that explanation. PPP chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon accused the presidential office and the ruling Democratic Party of using preparations for possible golf diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump as a justification for the outing. His criticism focused both on Lee’s decision to continue playing and on the administration’s handling of the political fallout.

The Democratic Party defended the president. Party spokesperson Cho Gye-won had said the outing formed part of preparations for potential golf diplomacy with Trump. Other ruling party lawmakers argued that a president is entitled to rest on a day off and that Lee had still performed his duty by receiving reports and issuing instructions intended to protect lives.

The presidential office took the unusual step of confirming Lee’s private schedule, saying he had visited the course with his family. The disclosure came after PPP lawmaker Joo Jin-woo announced plans to hold a news conference alleging that Lee had been golfing at the time of the Daegu incident.

The dispute has shifted attention from the timing of the outing to a broader question about how presidents should balance private time with their obligation to remain available during emergencies. The competing accounts do not dispute that Lee was informed or that he gave instructions. Instead, the political argument centers on whether those actions were sufficient under the circumstances and whether the golf outing should have been interrupted.

No evidence presented in the dispute indicated that Lee’s location delayed rescue operations. Even so, the controversy is likely to keep pressure on the presidential office to explain how the president was briefed, what directions he issued and how quickly officials acted after the collapse.