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A Foreign Ministry official on Wednesday bluntly denied Korea¡¯s alliance with the U.S. was in the doldrums as the two countries¡¯ presidents prepare for a summit on June 11.
The official scoffed at reported remarks by Japan¡¯s Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi to the effect that Tokyo is unable to share intelligence with Seoul because Washington ¡°can¡¯t trust South Korea.¡± "It's below my dignity as a Korean official to ask the Japanese why they said something like that,¡± he commented. He also dismissed reports in the Japanese press that Seoul¡¯s unceremonious scrapping of a Korean-U.S. military plan for contingencies in North Korea, dubbed OPLAN 5029, would be a key topic when President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush meet next month. The matter had not made its way on the summit agenda, he said.
The official said the summit was planned simply to discuss with the second Bush administration the direction the alliance will take, not because some problem or other had reared its ugly head in the bilateral relationship.
Asked by a reporter why the summit would not take place at President Bush's private ranch in Crawford, Texas, the official said, "If the Japanese and British prime ministers go to Crawford, does that mean we have to follow? Doesn't the British prime minister also have a not-so-pleasant nickname?" British Prime Minister Tony Blair has managed to preserve good relations with Washington but has incurred the moniker "Bush's poodle" in the process.
However, the U.S. does appear to view Seoul's desire to become a "balancer" in Northeast Asia as an attempt to shake itself free of the alliance with Washington. A high-ranking government official said, "I've gotten a lot of e-mails from U.S. figures asking what we're trying to do." The Korean National Security Council has explained that Seoul¡¯s ambition to act as a balancing force in the region was in the U.S. interest as well. A Foreign Ministry official who recently visited the U.S. said during a briefing Washington ¡°sufficiently understood¡± his government's position on the new role.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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