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Current Korean-American relations are like a train moving at such a speed that it's about to derail. We're at a point where everyone needs to take a deep breath and think about where we're going, and yet the politicians, social leadership, and the general public are getting increasingly excited. It's utterly frustrating to see, in addition to this, both governments too relaxed about the situation and seemingly missing the point.
The results of the Korea-United States Security Consultative Meeting held Thursday in Washington are in this sense a disappointment. Given the seriousness of the anti-Americanism within Korea these days, the defense leaders present should have come out of the meeting with some proposals on what to do about the situation. They failed to see the situation for what it is and come up with concrete measures for dealing with the problem. One wants to ask if both governments even sense the crisis that is going on.
Following the meeting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he "profoundly regretted the death of the two Korean girls," but that he didn't think revising the Status of Forces Agreement would keep accidents from happening. The Korean government is at this point still not demanding that SOFA be revised, and the US government is said to be against any revision, so it's frustrating to hear such things said at this stage. Both governments, particularly high-level American officials, need to be more considerate of anti American sentiment in Korea and be more prudent in their statements.
Events have developed to a situation where President Kim Dae-jung and President George W. Bush must deal with the problem directly. The presidential candidates must also be more prudent in dealing with the issue of anti Americanism. All of them need to refrain from hurting that which is ultimately of great importance for the sake of short-term gain. We again ask that rather than acting out of convenience in the context of campaign strategy, they would each present the country with comprehensive proposals for dealing with the situation.
December 7, 2002
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