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¡°Can¡¯t a Korean minister say, ¡®I don¡¯t think that a U.S. policy succeeded in that regard? Should such ministers be grilled at the National Assembly?" President Roh Moo-hyun said in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. The president was coming out all guns blazing in support of Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, who was harshly criticized by lawmakers for having said in a TV interview the U.S.' North Korea policy "failed the most" when the North launched its missiles on July 5. What Lee meant to say was that South Korea failed less, the chief executive explained. "Ministers should be ready to ask back, 'Then are you insisting on suffocating North Korea?' and "Do you lawmakers think the U.S. is a faultless country?'"
The presidential remarks sound like he, too, thinks the U.S. was a bigger failure than South Korea in the North Korean missile crisis. There can of course be various views as to which of the two counties was the bigger loser. But the president's frank expression of his thoughts about this delicate matter is unlikely to help our national interest. Suppose a top American official said in a TV interview, "South Korea's North Korea policy has failed," and the U.S. president pats him on the shoulder for it: would our leaders remain silent?
This administration proposes to resolve the North Korean missile crisis ¡°our way" but ¡°in step with the international community.¡± It is urging the U.S. and Japan to follow us, whose top priority is the security of the Korean Peninsula. If that is really what it wants, the administration should first of all try to persuade the U.S. diplomatically, with due understanding of the U.S. position. But for president and minister to speak ill of U.S. efforts behind its back is tantamount to cutting off the branch they are sitting on.
The people watching our relations with the U.S. must feel they are waling on eggshells. The louder our officials shout that there is nothing wrong with the Seoul-Washington alliance, the more we hear of efforts in the U.S. to downgrade the military alliance to the level of Washington¡¯s relationship with Thailand. It beggars belief to see the president incite his ministers to get heavy with Washington under these circumstances.
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