Subtle Signs Betray Uncle Sam's Displeasure Korea and the Two Alliances U.S. Congress Catches South Korea Chill Uri Lawmaker Raps U.S. Congressman for 'Main Enemy' Taunt

Ministry spokesperson Kim Hong-jae quoted Chung as saying Northeast Asia was trying to move from hostile confrontation to coexistence, reconciliation and cooperation. Chung said U.S. House International Relations Committee chairman Henry Hyde's confrontational thinking was not helpful in resolving problems on the Korean Peninsula.

Chung made the statement during a meeting of Unification Ministry officials, but the official added it should be seen as having been made in Chung's capacity as chairman of the National Security Council. As such, it is likely to cause tremors in the Korea-U.S. relationship.

Hyde last week complained about the omission of the term "main enemy" to describe North Korea in a 2004 South Korean defense white paper despite the fact that continued hostility from the North was a major basis of the Korea-U.S. alliance. He said the white paper nonetheless counted on some 690,000 U.S. soldiers being deployed to Korea in the event of a conflict. He said Korea must say who the enemy is before it assumes U.S. support.

Chung retorted that to call for Korea to first designate an enemy before it receives U.S. help is a misunderstanding of the object and spirit of the alliance. He said no nation in the world, the U.S. included, designates enemies in its defense ministry white papers. He added there was no change in Seoul's position that the U.S. is an ally and North Korea an ethnic brother.

Chung also gave short shrift to Hyde's demand that South Korea rethink its aid to Pyongyang following the regime's Feb. 10 announcement that it has nuclear weapons. Chung said Seoul would "consider several situations and independently decide how to proceed with aid" to the North.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiatives on Monday admitted that Korea and the U.S. were experiencing difficulty over the disappearance of the "main enemy" concept, but reiterated that no nation designates another specific nation as its main enemy. Moon Chung-in also said the U.S. must understand North Korea and engage in "negotiation-like" negotiations. He said Pyongyang in turn needs to rid itself of the snobbery of talking only to the United States and hold discussions with Seoul, too.

(englisnews@chosun.com )