President Roh Moo-hyun was defiant on Wednesday in an escalating spat between his government and the U.S. over sanctions Washington has taken against North Korea. ¡°The Korean government does not agree with some opinions in the U.S. that apparently want to take issue with and pressure the North Korean regime, sometimes hoping for its collapse,¡± the president said in his traditional New Year¡¯s press conference. ¡°If the US government attempts to resolve the problem that way, there will be friction and disagreements between Seoul and Washington.¡± Washington accuses Pyongyang of a range of crimes, notably currency forgery.
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President Roh Moo-hyun speaks during a New Year's press conference at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Wednesday.
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Roh said his government aims to wrap up negotiations on taking back wartime operational control over troops on the peninsula within the year. Talks on the matter are to start soon.
In other remarks, the president said he was against the idea proposed in the Uri Party to reunite it with the Millennium Democratic Party, from which it split early in Roh¡¯s term. Asked about his remark that he thought about breaking with the ruling party, he said, ¡°My comments were in the past tense.¡±
The president also attempted to calm fears that the focus on closing the wealth gap in his New Year¡¯s address meant more taxes. ¡°I¡¯m not proposing to raise taxes immediately,¡± Roh said. ¡°I will pursue every way to remedy the situation without raising taxes.¡± Roh added he would ¡°do his best¡± since it is clear there is no public consent to a tax hike.
International news agencies focused on the sections in the press conference that dealt with potential friction in Korea-U.S. relations.
They homed in on the president¡¯s avoidance of a direct answer to U.S. allegations that the North is engaged counterfeiting, money laundering and drug trafficking. Roh merely said, ¡°We need to review how these issues are related with resolving the North¡¯s nuclear problems.¡±
They also interpreted Roh¡¯s promise to ¡°put my efforts into making Japan accept our legitimate requests¡± as meaning he would exert further pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to stop worshipping at the Yasukuni Shrine, which houses memorials to convicted war criminals.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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