"Let us also consider the arrest warrant against Netanyahu." South Korean President Lee Jae-myung used those words at the 22nd cabinet meeting on May 20 to instruct his government to review the domestic enforcement of the International Criminal Court warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
South Korea is a Rome Statute signatory, meaning it bears a treaty obligation to arrest and surrender any subject of an ICC warrant who enters its territory. For a sitting president to raise that prospect at a public cabinet session is highly unusual, and the remark is being read in Seoul as a signal that Lee intends to harden his government's posture toward Israel.
Two Korean Activists Seized
The trigger was the consecutive seizure by the Israeli military of two South Korean activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza. According to South Korea's Foreign Ministry, the support vessel Kyriakos X, carrying activist Kim Dong-hyeon, 34, was seized by Israeli naval special forces on May 18 in international waters near Cyprus. In the early hours of May 20, a separate vessel carrying Kim Ah-hyun, 28, known by the activist name Haecho, and Korean-American activist Jonathan Seungjoon Lee was also seized off Gaza.
Both vessels were part of an international aid fleet of around 54 ships that departed Marmaris, Türkiye on May 14; Israel's Foreign Ministry announced on May 20 that all 430 activists aboard had been transferred to Israeli vessels.
Kim Ah-hyun had also been detained by Israeli forces in October 2025 during an earlier attempt to enter Gaza, making this her second seizure. At the cabinet meeting itself, National Security Director Wi Seong-rak stated that the South Korean government had previously warned both activists that Gaza was a no-entry zone, but they did not comply. Unauthorized travel to Gaza is punishable under South Korea's Passport Act by up to one year of imprisonment.
Inside the Cabinet Exchange
Lee raised the matter himself immediately after Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jin-a delivered an emergency briefing on the Middle East situation. He pressed her on the legal grounds for the seizure, asking whether the interception fell within Israeli territorial waters and whether the vessels had violated Israeli sovereignty.
When the vice minister hesitated, Lee turned on her directly: "Please explain precisely. Do you not know, or are you holding back because it puts you in a difficult position? Say what you know. This is not the Israeli government."
National Security Director Wi Seong-rak and Deputy National Security Adviser Im Ung-sun then took over, presenting in turn Israel's position that its comprehensive military control over Gaza justifies the interception, and the broader international legal dispute over whether naval blockades during armed conflict are lawful. They promised further review.
Lee was not persuaded. "If belligerents are fighting one another, that is not for us to intervene in," he said. "But is it justifiable to seize, arrest, and detain a third-country vessel of volunteers trying to provide aid? Shouldn't we be protesting?"
When Wi again suggested reviewing the legal aspects, Lee cut him off: "Forget law. There is basic common sense." He closed the exchange by instructing his officials to act on principle, saying the government had been patient for too long and the situation had gone too far.
The ICC Warrant in Context
It was in this exchange that Lee raised the ICC. "Has the ICC not recognized Netanyahu as a war criminal and issued an arrest warrant?" he asked (initially saying "International Court of Justice" before an adviser corrected him to "International Criminal Court"). He then stated his view that "most European countries have issued declarations that they would arrest Netanyahu if he entered their territory" and instructed the government: "We should also make a judgment on this."
The ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu was issued on November 21, 2024, against both the prime minister and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The charges include starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, murder, and persecution.
Israel rejects the warrant as politically motivated and disputes the court's jurisdiction. The ICC's 125 member states bear a treaty obligation to arrest subjects of warrants who enter their territory, but few have publicly committed to do so; France, Germany, and Italy have indicated they would not, and Hungary has openly committed to defying the court.
Lee's claim that "most European countries" had declared they would arrest Netanyahu therefore overstates the actual record, a point Wi attempted to correct without success.
Opposition Reactions
The Namu Contrast
Lee's hardening posture toward Israel stands in contrast with his government's response to Iran only two weeks earlier. On May 4, the cargo ship Namu, operated by South Korea's largest shipping company HMM, was struck off the UAE coast by two unidentified flying objects, producing a major hole in the vessel's port stern.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared on social media within hours that Iran had "fired on a Korean cargo vessel," but the Lee administration declined to convene an immediate National Security Council meeting, prioritized investigation, and as of this writing has still not formally attributed the attack to Iran.
That a possible Iranian attack on Korean seafarers prompted caution while the detention of two activists who defied a government travel ban prompted an ICC warrant review within hours is the contrast both opposition parties have begun framing as "selective response" and "double standards."
The Foreign Ministry announced on May 20 that it had requested Israeli authorities, through the Israeli Embassy in Seoul, to ensure the safety of the detained Korean nationals. What to watch next: whether Seoul escalates to a formal diplomatic protest, how it organizes the domestic legal process for fulfilling its ICC obligations, and when and under what conditions the two detained activists return to Korea.
Sources
ICC arrest warrant background:
Global Sumud Flotilla seizures: