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The government and political circle are talking about the gravity of the incident where U.S. President George Bush failed to mention Korea while listing the names of its allies in his address to accept his nomination as the Republican candidate for the next presidential election.
Given that Korea sent 3,600 soldiers to Iraq, the third largest number following the U.S. and Britain, his failure to mention Korea has raised suspicion that Bush may not consider Korea an ally. As a result, some experts say that the incident would affect the future relationship between the two counrties. In particular, the incident is more disturbing because it happened following his discriminate definition of Japan as a key ally and Korea as a democratic partner in the Republican Party's policy platform.
In his acceptance speech, Bush named eight countries one after another in the order of Britain, Poland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, El Salvador, and Australia, which is in accordance with the size of troops sent to Iraq by each country. He named El Salvador and Australia, which sent 380 and 300 troops to Iraq respectively, but did not mention Korea, which sent a total of 3,600 soldiers -- 600 medical and engineering solders last year and another 3,000 recently -- ten times as many as those of El Salvador and Australia.
Diplomatic experts unaimously say, "Given the size of troops that Korea sent to Iraq, it is unbelievable that Bush failed to list Korea." In particular, when considering the damage Korea has suffered by sending troops to Iraq -- the Kim-Sun-il incident, for example -- the U.S. president's failure to view Korea as its ally shows that there are some problems with the relations between the two countries, they say.
Grand National Party lawmaker Park Jin, who listened to Bush deliver his speech right at the Republican convention, said, "I could not belive that he did not mention Korea, so I obtained the written speech, but Korea was not in there, either," and added, "This should be viewed as a sign indicating that the relations between the two countries may greatly change from now on."
An official from the government said "President Bush did not list the names of the country in accordance with the number of military troops being sent. It is not an incident with much importance." Lee Sang-hyun of the Sejong Institute said, "President Bush's speeches are never really articulate," and added that "although the overall relationship between the U.S. and Korea is not good, I do not believe Bush omitted Korea intentionally."
Diplomatic experts said, however, that, "Our government has been continuously provoking the U.S. with the Iraq deployment issue... If sending an army of 3,600 isn't enough to leave a strong impression of Korea to the president of the United States, it shows that the Korea-U.S. relationship is going through a serous problematic phase."
Complaints are arising from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. One official said, "In the midst of the resolving of the Yongsan Garrison issue and the appointment of a new ambassador, it wasn't a good thing."
In 1991, during the Gulf War, Japan paid a large sum of money instead of sending troops. Japan's contribution was not treated with proper respect and because of that, Japan reconstructed its relationship with the U.S.
The government is regarding this incident as a mere "mishap." Its excuse has been that, "Bush's public relations team made the speech outline without consulting directly with the U.S. Department of State."
(Lee Ha-won, may2@chosun.com )
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