Ahn Cheol-soo tells 'North Korea-loving' president to try playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

People Power Party lawmakers have lined up to criticize President Lee Jae Myung's characterization of North Korea's nuclear weapons as "last-resort defensive arms."

PPP floor leader Jang Dong-hyeok said at a party supreme council meeting Thursday that "North Korea's last-resort defensive weapon is neither a land mine nor a nuclear weapon — it is President Lee himself," adding that "words that would only come out of Kim Jong-un's mouth are now being spoken by the president of South Korea."

Jang also referenced criticism from the ruling camp directed at USFK Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson over the transfer of wartime operational control, saying "the ultimate goal of the Lee Jae Myung administration is to break away from the free world," and that Lee's concept of self-reliance amounted to "anti-Americanism, subservience to North Korea and subservience to China."

"This is not self-reliant defense — it is self-destructive defense," Jang said. "If the Lee administration is left unchecked, the MDL will become a launch pad for North Korean nuclear weapons." He added that even if China conducts cyberattacks or builds artificial islands, the government would do nothing but say "xie xie."

Ahn Cheol-soo, a PPP lawmaker, went further, telling Lee to at least watch gameplay footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, a new title set around a North Korean invasion of the South.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Ahn said Lee had "defended North Korea by calling its nuclear weapons the North's last-resort defensive arms," calling it "a dangerous fantasy from a North Korea-loving president utterly detached from reality."

"If you don't understand the danger of North Korean provocation, try playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4," Ahn said. "If your fingers are too busy on X — formerly Twitter — even just watching a playthrough video should teach you how much catastrophic damage President Lee's naive judgment will bring to South Korea."

Ahn also shared a YouTube link containing gameplay footage of the title.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, the game Ahn cited, depicts a fictional Second Korean War triggered by a full-scale North Korean invasion of the South. The game follows South Korean soldiers fighting North Korean forces along a collapsing front line and has drawn attention for its realistic portrayal of settings and characters.

PPP Chief Spokesperson Park Chung-kwon also weighed in, saying in a statement that "North Korea codified the possibility of a preemptive nuclear strike in its nuclear forces policy law in 2022," and that "telling an adversary that has written the conditions for nuclear use into law that 'there will be no actual use' is not security policy — it is fantasy and escapism." Park demanded that Lee "apologize to the public for his reckless remarks downplaying the North Korean nuclear threat and immediately present effective nuclear deterrence measures."

Earlier, at a press briefing with Cheong Wa Dae correspondents Monday, Lee had argued for the early transfer of wartime operational control, saying that while North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, "could they actually be used in combat? They amount to last-resort defensive arms."