The rival political parties had starkly different reactions to the outcome of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday.

At a Supreme Council meeting on Friday, main opposition Democratic Party(DP) leader Lee Jae-myung lambasted the administration for choosing the path toward becoming "Japan's puppet," calling the summit the "most shameful and pitiful moment in the nation’s diplomatic history.”

Noting a lack of an apology or regret on the part of Japan for its wartime forced labor of Koreans, Lee accused the administration of trading the nation's self-respect, the victims' rights and historical justice “for an omelet with rice” eaten by Yoon in his dinner with Kishida after the summit.

Meanwhile, at a party meeting of the ruling People Power Party(PPP), floor leader Joo Ho-young expected normalized bilateral ties to offer new opportunities to the domestic economy and help revitalize it with Tokyo's lifting of export curbs against South Korea.

Joo said North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile around the time of Yoon's Japan visit further confirms the necessity and urgency of enhancing military cooperation with Tokyo and Washington.