You are right, though, however Roh uses this situation to distance himself from those whom will be labeled “pro-US,” there will not be any real change in South Korea’s policies. It is unrealistic to think Korea can “go it alone” or “defy” the US. For its own self-interest, it has to be somewhat accomodating. If the ROK were not, it would seriously harm the Korean economy. Indeed, many of Korea’s current economic problems are at lesat partly due to the uncertainty surrounding Roh and his left-leaning tendencies.

If I am incorrect and the story is as it appears, on the other hand, then Roh is certainly handling it the wrong way. You may recall how the US media was saying there were differences of opinion between Rumsfeld and the military brass. Maybe there were, but top military officials came out and denied it, smoothing things over. You did not see Rumsfeld threatening to fire anyone or making his anger public. The Bush admin knew that any signs of disunity would only undermine their position. They no doubt worked out a plan behind the scenes to deflect the media’s attempts to drive a wedge between Rumsfeld and military leaders. In other words, I would not blame the “leakers” per se but Roh’s public handling of the situation.

Still, it’s all really vague. I cannot get a sense exactly what was said and by whom and how serious it really was. It might be the media distorting something again.

You are like nasty boys, taking a trip down the hall to mock at the retards in the special- education class. It’s about as “cool” as shooting fish in a barrel — too easy!

Koreans came to us less advantaged than the rest of us; it’s pathetic you boys pose as ” Asia Experts” just to make fun of the “retards of Asia”.

For you to even live in the Trailor Park of Asia speaks alot of your own caliber: Trailor Park expatriates.

You apparently aren’t good enough to expatriate yourselves to Japan where the “class act” expatriates hang out.

Water seeks its own level.

Personally, I don’t know is there will be major changes in policy after the dust settles from this. Even if the NSC and some of the more “independently” minded of Noh’s advisors get their way, as soon as they try to enact some of their policy ideas, they’re going to get a heavy dose of reality. And frankly, I think Noh realizes this, which is why no matter how he uses this issue before the general election, I don’t expect his policies vis-a-vis the United States will change as much as certain people fear.

At least I hope not, anyway.

The Chosun is going to have Tuesday’s editorial on this quoted back in its face someday:

“Civil service officials can have their own personal views about major government policies, especially when those policies relate closely to the national interest, and the government should encourage them to express those views without concern for their superiors. While watching this process of open discussion, the general public may formulate basic opinions on issues that are technical and specialized, and without this, one cannot provide a foundation on which the people may assess national policy.”

Okay right, so lets have a regular forum for leaking sensitive information.