President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday indicated North Korea was informed in advance of a ¡°common and broad approach¡± Washington and Seoul agreed at a summit this month to bring the reclusive country back to talks on its nuclear program. ¡°The North learned of the approach,¡± Roh said in an MBC TV interview. ¡°It has not expressed opposition.¡± Asked if Pyongyang was told before his trip to the U.S., the president said, ¡°Yes.¡±
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President Roh Moo-hyun talks with program host Sohn Suk-hee on the MBC program ¡®100-Minute Debate¡¯ at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday afternoon.
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Roh also took the opportunity to lash out at his critics, implying that only supporters of Korea¡¯s past authoritarian governments worry that the handover of wartime operational control of Korean troops from the U.S. will endanger the country¡¯s security. ¡°They seem to think that only they can defend and devote themselves to the nation,¡± he said. ¡°Do you think that democracy activists are unwilling to or incapable of protecting the nation?¡± He lambasted critics of the plan, saying their ¡°arrogant attitude that only they are patriots is not helpful for the future of the nation.¡±
Asked about the so-called ¡°trip-wire" controversy, the president said, ¡°Since I was a presidential candidate, I¡¯ve opposed Korea¡¯s reliance on the U.S. for its defense, with the U.S. Second Infantry Division employed on the frontline. Why should we let the U.S. defend the front, which we must protect by ourselves?¡± Roh ignited the controversy when he said people who oppose Korea¡¯s sole exercise of operational control of its forces are the very ones who asserted in the past that the U.S. Second Infantry Division must be deployed as a ¡°trip-wire" along the armistice line.
Countering criticism of the government¡¯s measures against real estate speculation, the president said, ¡°Many people denounce the measures as the government¡¯s means of raising taxes. But people will now make less profit from speculative property investment than from investing in ordinary financial products.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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