Trump won’t ‘idly stand by’ if Yoon is unfairly prosecuted, warns former White House adviser

Fred Fleitz, vice chairman of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and a former national security official under U.S. President Donald Trump, warned that the White House would not stand idly by if it believed former President Yoon Suk Yeol was being persecuted or unfairly prosecuted, as Trump himself had been unjustly prosecuted in the past.

Fleitz delivered the remarks during a closed-door meeting with members of the Korea Inter-Parliamentary Exchange Center (Kipec) on July 21 at AFPI’s office in Washington, according to multiple members present at the meeting.

Na Kyung-won, a People Power Party lawmaker and co-chair of the visiting parliamentary delegation, wrote in a Facebook post on July 26 that she was able to gauge the United States’ perspectives on Korea during the visit.

“From the AFPI meeting to various events, I could sense that Washington is watching not just trade and security issues but also Korea’s political situation closely,” she said. “The fact that they addressed the fairness of legal proceedings involving the former president from a human rights perspective struck me as a significant message to the ruling party and administration.”

Another lawmaker in the delegation said that Fleitz’s remarks were made in the context of “recent major political shifts in Korea” and suggested that “appropriate measures may be needed regarding former President Yoon.”

A different member confirmed the general tone of Fleitz’s comments but added, “It was not said in a particularly serious or stern way.”

One People Power Party lawmaker expressed concern over the implications of Fleitz’s comments.

“The AFPI is a private think tank — not an institution with the authority to ‘idly stand by or not’ on anything,” the lawmaker said. “So to hear such a remark from someone in that position seemed potentially problematic.”

The AFPI is a pro-Trump organization founded by key aides from Trump’s first term to support his 2024 re-election bid.

Fleitz served as executive secretary of the National Security Council and was widely seen as a key adviser on foreign and security policy during Trump’s first term.

Officials from the Kipec said the meeting took place as part of a broader effort to engage with a range of U.S. institutions across the political spectrum, including both Republican- and Democratic-aligned groups.

Park Sang-hyuk, a senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, responded to Fleitz’s reported remarks in a Facebook post on July 27.

“There will be no unjust treatment,” he wrote. “In fact, in accordance with a just legal order, if convicted of insurrection, he will face either the death penalty or life imprisonment and spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

BY JO SU-BIN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]