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On orders from President Roh Moo-hyun, Unification Minister cum chairman of the National Security Council Chung Dong-young twice investigated NSC Deputy Chief Lee Jong-seok, apparently in relation to his role in negotiations over a ¡°strategic flexibility¡± for the U.S. Forces Korea, it was revealed Tuesday.
¡ß Hearing-style investigation
Cheong Wa Dae revealed that on April 6 and April 12, it carried out two investigations to see whether Lee agreed with Washington concerning USFK strategic flexibility, only for Korea to later reject it. Chung carried out the investigations on orders from President Roh, who had received a report from the Cheong Wa Dae situation room that raised possible problems. The report was based on an outside intelligence report.
Chung determined there were no problems with Lee¡¯s performance and reported so to President Roh. The investigation accepted Lee¡¯s explanation -- namely, that it made no sense to say he was changing course on the issue of strategic flexibility because there had been no agreements between Korea and U.S. on the issue.
¡ß The problematic issues
The concept of USFK strategic flexibility has been on the table since the U.S. formulated its Global Defense Posture Review (GPR) in late 2002. Washington wanted to turn the USFK into a ¡°Northeast Asian expeditionary force,¡± and made this a priority issue since 2003.
The Korean government¡¯s position was to ¡°respect the U.S. principle.¡± In a joint statement on Oct. 22, 2004, Seoul agreed to ¡°reconfirm the continued importance of USFK strategic flexibility.¡± But Korea believed it could not accept USFK intervention in Northeast Asian conflicts, such as one between China and Taiwan, and Roh made the point during a March 8 address when he said USFK would not get embroiled in Northeast Asian disputes without Korea¡¯s will.
¡°Despite this, some scholars have said that the question of strategic flexibility was already decided between Korea and the U.S., and that President Roh changed his mind. Some media like OhMyNews have reported that the agreement is being hushed up and that the negotiations are just for show,¡± a Choeng Wa Dae official said. ¡°In February, a U.S. Defense Department official said, ¡®We¡¯ve agreed to the principle that we must promote strategic flexibility, and we¡¯re at the stage of negotiating over the process,¡¯ and this may have caused some misunderstanding.¡±
¡ß Some suspicions won¡¯t die
A number of things in this Cheong Wa Dae explanation, however, are less than persuasive. The questions begin with why Roh, who knows the general situation, would investigate Lee over the matter. Some suspect there must be a very serious reason. It is also noteworthy that the investigation went into a second round and that the presidential secretary for civil affairs, who is responsible for dealing with dereliction of duty, participated in the investigation.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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