The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday it has issued a "stern warning" to Defense Minister Song Young-moo for his "inappropriate and uncoordinated" remarks regarding President Moon Jae-in's dispute-prone security adviser.
During a parliamentary session Monday, Song said it is "deplorable" that Moon Chung-in, the adviser, is making controversial remarks as a scholar, which are deemed unfit for a presidential security adviser.
The adviser has courted controversies for his "personal" ideas, including his proposal for scaling back South Korea-U.S. military drills in exchange for North Korea's freeze on its nuclear program -- a view seen at odds with Washington.
"(Cheong Wa Dae) has issued a stern warning to him, citing the inappropriate expression as a Cabinet member and uncoordinated remarks that have caused policy confusion," Yoon Young-chan, the chief presidential press secretary, said in a text message to reporters.
Apart from Song's remarks this week, Song was seen running counter to the liberal government's stance on the redeployment of U.S. tactical nukes to Korea.
The minister initially said the redeployment could be weighed as an option to deter an increasingly provocative North Korea. But he later reversed himself after the president ruled it out in a media interview last week.
The outspoken minister also said openly that the government plans to "delay" planned humanitarian assistance, worth $8 million, to North Korea for quite a long time, sparking speculation about possible rifts among the South's policymakers on the communist neighbor.
The Unification Ministry is in charge of providing the North with an aid.
Song's ministry said it will "heed" Cheong Wa Dae's warning.
"(We) will take heed of that," the ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said at a press briefing, asked about Cheong Wa Dae's warning message.
He added, "I think there will be an opportunity for the minister to express his position (on the issue) later on." (Yonhap)