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Cheong Wa Dae's office of civil affairs recently engaged in an inquiry into matters concerning those responsible for the country's diplomacy. In particular, the inquiry focused on an anonymous note claiming that high-ranking figures in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been criticizing the government's negotiating stance towards the United States, and also into newspaper articles citing discord between the foreign ministry and the National Security Council (NSC) and telephone calls between diplomats and journalists.
Cheong Wa Dae is saying it looked into "information that there have been comments by foreign ministry officials of a nature serious enough that they should not be overlooked, and that there have been leaks" from the foreign ministry. When you look at everything together, however, you get the strong impression that the inquiry could be characterized as being a warning, or revenge, towards foreign ministry officials for criticizing the policies of the president and central figures in the NSC.
Civil service officials can have their own personal views about major government policies, especially when those policies relate closely to the national interest, and the government should encourage them to express those views without concern for their superiors. While watching this process of open discussion, the general public may formulate basic opinions on issues that are technical and specialized, and without this, one cannot provide a foundation on which the people may assess national policy. Checking up on who thinks what and what they're saying is more than anachronistic, it's reverse evolution.
The general view is that this all originated in the discord between the foreign ministry and the NSC that has existed since the start of the current government, and when foreign affairs experts protested at how the president sided with the NSC in that discord, which has allowed the NSC to operate unilaterally. That approach by the NSC first became exposed during the course of the president's visit to the United States last year. The people learned about it when the NSC's deputy secretary general demonstrated his influence by effectively rendering the ministers of defense and foreign affairs over the question of troops for Iraq.
When events require, Cheong Wa Dae, as the final stop for national policy decisions, should investigate objectively and coordinate or minimize the discord, to prevent confusion in national policy before it happens. That's what should have happened, but the president openly sided with the NSC, and now Cheong Wa Dae has been investigating the related foreign ministry officials, based on an anonymous note. You have to call this a blunder that is turning this country's expert diplomatic talent into de facto decorations.
January 13, 2004
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