Roh Lashes Out at Former Defense Chiefs The Schoolyard Bullies in Cheong Wa Dae Roh Vows to Go Out Fighting Ex-Defense Chiefs Hit Back at Roh Roh's Private War Roh Attacks ‘Privilege’ in Media, Prosecution Do You Feel Lucky?

President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday unleashed a torrent of abuse during a standing committee meeting of the Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification. He was evidently agitated. The address, originally scheduled to last for 20 minutes, continued for no less than an hour and 10 minutes. The chief executive clenched his fists and struck the rostrum, behaving much the way he did as a stump speaker during the 2002 presidential election.

His first target was former defense ministers and chiefs of staff. They “took pride” in “leading the nation's military when they couldn’t even control its operations in wartime,” Roh said. "When they issued a declaration against Korea taking over wartime operational control of its own troops, they completely neglected their duty. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

The former defense chiefs, some of them Korean War veterans, asked for a meeting with the president out of concern that dismantling Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command by insisting on sole operational control of our troops at all times would erode the foundation of our national security. But he declined to meet them, though he somehow found time to meet two groups of his supporters’ club Nosamo in one day. As a result, the veterans, some in their 80s, had to brave scorching heat to take their protest to the street.

But the president has contempt for their concerns. "Whether they know the reality but say otherwise or do so out of ignorance, they seem to think it’s fair to oppose everything and anything Roh Moo-hyun does," he said. "Don't they really mean 'shake him, the guy from nowhere?’" A former CFC deputy commander is said to have burst out, “Who’s neglecting his duty?" But Koreans who heard the speech will above all feel that the president has come to a dead end.

"This is a country where the people were frightened out of their senses because the U.S. said it could withdraw from Korea, and quake in their boots because the Second U.S. Infantry Division is pulling back to the rear," Roh said. "Which Korean president or foreign minister could talk with American civil servants on an equal footing" if people act like that?

In South Korea, he said, if someone defends Kim Jong-il against the allegation of insanity, he is "clubbed to death." "An opponent's view can be correct. We must acknowledge the possibility that I am wrong,” he instructed his audience. “That is what is meant by tolerance." As an example of our tradition of intolerance, he cited the persecution of Catholics, numbering hundreds at a time and 8,000 in or around 1866.

"A public sense that we can be at ease only if the government keeps up propaganda about national security makes governing very difficult," the president lamented. "It’s evident that any missiles North Korea fires won't target South Korea. So why should the government step forward and tell people to stock up on instant noodles and buy gas masks in preparation for missile attacks from the North?" Referring to parliamentary confirmation hearings of ministers-designate who were asked what caused the Korean War, he complained that lawmakers evidently take him for a man who would appoint ministers who don’t know if it was an invasion by North or South. But, he insisted, “I am sane."

Roh also accused the U.S. of a hand in getting him down. "Those who send danger signals in the U.S. are involved in a program to depress my spirits.” He said they are making him miserable with their attempts to “teach him a lesson” and their constant signals that the Korea-U.S. alliance is going to the dogs. Opinion polls are also at fault: "Everybody, friend and foe alike, says the president did everything wrong, according to the polls. I’ve tried to accomplish things with all my conscience and sincerity. Every time you do things with conscience and sincerity, things go wrong."

Since the foundation of the Republic of Korea, no president has insulted and disparaged the people as nakedly as this. No president, in fact, has scoffed at and ignored the nation's elders and trampled on our traditions and culture like the incumbent. No president has exposed his hostility toward our allies like him. The only lucky fellow who somehow escaped this barrage of abuse was the dear leader up North. Koreans had better prepare for a decisive moment.