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President Roh Moo-hyun has tapped the chairman of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper as the latest ambassador to the United States. Ambassador-designate Hong's position as the major shareholder of an influential daily may well have helped stir up market gossip on the issue - on which chief presidential secretary Kim Yong-woo offered some sort of explanation.
"Feeling that something was lacking in that, while relations between the two governments are friendly, the Korea-U.S. relationship often does not appear that way to the public and particularly not so to intellectuals, we have chosen a person who is capable of developing our relationship with American intellectuals and [boosting] public opinion," said Kim.
The current Korea-U.S. relationship, though maintained within the framework of an alliance, has appeared so unstable in recent times that people have asked at home and abroad if it really is an alliance at all.
The two countries' perspectives on North Korea's nuclear development program and the regime of Kim Jong-il are often at odds, while anti-American sentiment in Korea and anti-Korean sentiment in the United States is strong enough to warrant concern.
Unlike the chief presidential secretary's explanation, the bilateral relationship at present, from the level of government relations to public feeling, contains many causes for legitimate concern. In such circumstances, the onus is squarely on ambassador-designate Hong to perform well in the role using his extensive overseas links that have been cultivated through the press, and to use his business networks advantageously to assist Korea's most prominent conglomerate.
His appointment is not free of problems. The country's envoy to the United States, in addition to taking responsibility for accurately relaying the Korean government's will to the United States, has to play the reverse role of conveying the feeling and thoughts of the United States back home. The post requires him to not hold back in advising the chief executive on all matters, especially those he is most loathe to hear.
We are concerned that authorities may nonetheless tell envoy-designate Hong in advance that his main role will be to serve as "Roh Moo-hyun's public relations commander in the United States."
There are also rumors that the government leaked stories of Hong's appointment as if the posting itself were a stepping stone for authorities to promote him later as a candidate for United Nations secretary-general. If true, such a strategy could invite misunderstanding and trigger a negative reaction from the international community.
Drawing almost as much attention is the fiery relationship between the powers-that-be and the press. Since it assumed power, the incumbent adminstration has divided newspapers and broadcasters and been hostile to critical newspapers. Even now the ruling camp is attempting to railroad through parliament new legislation that puts a host of restrictions on the freedom of the press.
Under such circumstances, Hong, a key player in one newspaper and chairman of the Korean Association of Newspapers, who in that capacity is already tasked with safeguarding the prestige of the press, has entered power.
We will have to just wait and see what positive and negative effects his appointment will have on power-press relations.
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