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President Roh Moo-hyun, in his keynote address at the 60th plenary session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, said the world ˇ°must shake off the mindset and vestiges of imperialism that appear to linger in various forms.ˇ± He also called for vigilance against a resurgence of ˇ°self-centeredˇ± major powers. Countries leading the international order today must first undertake a thorough self-examination and reflect on their past and future, Roh said.
The presidential spokesman said the remarks were made with no particular country in mind. But it is not hard to guess which country is being targeted by the use of the word "imperialism" in the world order unfolding since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Our country is the 11th largest economy and 12th biggest trading nation in the world. That is the outcome of our rapid growth in the past 60 years since our liberation from Japanese colonial rule, fully enjoying the benefits from the international order that stands on the axis of the United States. The cold reality we face leaves us no alternative but to stake our future on exports. It must have been that consideration that prompted the president to dispatch our troops to Iraq despite opposition from his supporters.
Yet the same president who took that step has now branded the international order we have relied on and have no alternative to relying on in the future as "imperialism,ˇ± in an international arena where the leaders of over 170 countries were assembled.
That sort of thing is usually done on the formal diplomatic stage by some South American and African countries. No wonder then that a number of people who listened to the president's address said it reminded them of the Bandung conference in the mid-1950s, where some Third-World countries attacked both the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
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