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-US 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.

Hours after the warning, Song offered an apology.
 

"My remarks were excessive ... I apologize," Song told a parliamentary session. "I was told by Cheong Wa Dae to be cautious (in my words)."

Apart from Song's remarks this week, Song was also seen running counter to the liberal government's stance on the redeployment of US 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 US$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.

Later in the day, Rep. Kim Young-woo of the minor opposition Bareun Party, who chairs the parliament's defense committee, criticized the warning against Song, saying it is a "very rash" move that hurts the honor of the military.

"It is something that has left me dumbfounded," Kim told reporters.

"Though Minister Song used somewhat rough expressions, it is very rash that (the presidential office) issued a warning to the sitting minister in charge of national defense," he added.

Kim, then, called for the president to dismiss his security advisor, Moon, accusing the scholar of causing policy confusion through his personal remarks. (Yonhap)