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A slew of pending issues between Seoul and Washington have been put on hold indefinitely due to the deadlock over American beef imports. While the United States is a player in many matters that have no relationship with the beef situation, they are difficult to address in the current situation, especially while the fate of the Korean government¡¯s top Foreign Ministry officials remains uncertain ahead of a major reshuffle. One Korean government official said discussion over most pending issues between Korea and the United States has been halted until after the beef issue is resolved.
First to be postponed indefinitely was the annual strategic dialogue, which was scheduled to take place starting Wednesday in Washington. Vice Foreign Minister Kwon Jong-rak was scheduled to visit the U.S. to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and regional security cooperation, but the meeting was canceled at Seoul¡¯s request. One government official said it is uncertain when the talks will take place since neither side has an opening in its schedule in July.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was planning to visit Korea coinciding with the G8 foreign ministerial meeting in Japan between June 26 and 27 but it is taking longer than expected to finalize the itinerary. Some even predict that Rice¡¯s trip will not take place. And that is being viewed as a gauge of whether U.S. President George W. Bush will come to Korea in July. Diplomatic sources say Washington is agonizing over the decision in light of the political situation in Korea.
Talks over the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea, the relocation of U.S. military bases, dispatching Korean police to Afghanistan and other sensitive issues are not even being discussed at the moment. Seoul worries that those issues could touch a raw nerve in the Korean public, just like the beef issue did.
There are fears that the beef problem could also affect Korea¡¯s inclusion in the U.S. visa waiver program that is being pursued with an end-of-the-year deadline. Agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently visited Korea and are inspecting technical areas including the issuance of electronic visas, immigration control systems and anti-terrorism measures, and they are said to have shown an interest in the protests over U.S. beef imports. One government official said he worries that the visa waiver might be impacted if the candlelight vigils demonstrate anti-American sentiment with regard to the visit of the U.S. president.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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