South Korean President Lee Jae-myung accused Israel of illegally detaining a South Korean citizen who was present on the Gaza aid flotilla.
A humanitarian aid flotilla carrying activists — including South Korean activist Kim Dong-hyun — was intercepted by Israeli forces while attempting to reach Gaza on the afternoon of May 18.
During a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review meeting held at the Blue House on Thursday, President Lee said, "There are at least minimum international norms, and they are violating all of them.”
He called Israel's actions “too inhumane and excessive.”
“What is the legal basis for this seizure? Is that Israeli territorial water? Isn’t Gaza unrelated to Israel? Did the ship violate Israeli sovereignty?" he asked the cabinet.
“How countries at war deal with each other is not really our business, but is it justifiable to seize, arrest, and detain a third-country ship carrying aid workers or volunteers?”
'This has gone far beyond acceptable limits'
National Security Director Wi Sung-lac said the matter would be reviewed separately, but President Lee replied "We’ve tolerated too much already. This has gone far beyond acceptable limits.”
Referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Lee said: "Hasn’t the ICC effectively recognized him as a war criminal and issued an arrest warrant?”
Wi replied, "I’m not sure whether he has officially been designated a war criminal, but there is an arrest warrant," to which President Lee responded: “Then he’s a war criminal.”
Lee then told Wi that South Korea should evaluate whether it should arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he enters the country's territory.
“We’re talking about this because our citizens were taken," he continued. "Whether those activists followed government recommendations or not is our internal matter, but our citizens were detained for reasons that may not be legally justified under international law, right?”