This is the first time in the 30 years since the maverick fixer Park Dong-sun bribed Nixon-era politicians with money from Korea’s secret services in a scandal known as “Koreagate” that the government has hired a local firm for lobbying or PR in the U.S. Whenever someone suggested expanding the channels of Korea’s diplomacy in the U.S., the Foreign Ministry said the official channels are enough.

Now the ministry says there are “limits to what embassy staff can do to deal with U.S. opinion leaders like journalists, academics and lawmakers in a systematic way" -- proof if any were needed how much hostility Korea faces there. The gulf is deep between that perception and the president’s sanguine view that America “is accommodating the considerable changes in Korea and changed attitudes toward the U.S." One was prompted by reports written to please the administration, the other is based on the experience of diplomats on the ground.

There is a good reason why the chairman of the Korea-American Association, Koo Pyong-hoe, says Americans feel a strong sense of betrayal from Koreans. “U.S. warnings to Korea now are like a light punch, but if the relationship deteriorates further, the U.S. could try to hit us with a hammer."

W1.2 billion is a small price to pay for turning American public opinion round. But what is objectionable is the spectacle of our diplomats out there trying to deceive the great American nation with window-dressing -- call it PR or lobbying or whatever you like -- when our government is at the same time going full steam ahead with projects that aim in the long run to dissolve the alliance.