Quisling diplomacy? Leaked diplomatic papers? Foreign Ministry shenanigans? It’s hard to tell who’s bullshitting whom at this point, but this little brouhaha between one Uri Party lawmaker and the government over Korea’s acceptance of the “strategic flexibility” of U.S. forces in Korea has the potential of getting ugly. Here’s some reports on it for your reading pleasure:
Papers describe mixed signals given to U.S. (JoongAng Ilbo)
Foreign Ministry Bypassed Roh Over USFK Deployment (Chosun Ilbo)
Cheong Wa Dae Hunts Security Council ‘Deep Throat’ (Chosun Ilbo)
For those who read Korean:
‘Korea, U.S. Exchange Memos on USFK Strategic Flexibility without Reporting to President‘ (Pressian)
Hushing up of USFK Strategic Flexibility Memos… Foreign Ministry-NSC Power Game? (Kukmin Ilbo)
Gov’t: No Memos Exchanged on USFK Strategic Flexibility (Yonhap)
And much, much more. You can also visit the webpage of Uri Party lawmaker Choi Jae-cheon, the man at the center of the leak. He’s keeping a running list of all the press reports on this mess, and I believe he has the leaked documents posted somewhere on his site.
Hard to make heads or tails of this. Maybe the Foreign Ministry really did keep the president and National Security Council (NSC) out of the loop. Maybe a disgruntled NSC official is pissed that the government caved to U.S. demands for strategic flexibility. Maybe its a power struggle between the Foreign Ministry and NSC. Maybe this is someone’s idea to torpedo former NSC deputy chief Lee Jong-seok’s confirmation as Unification Minister. Who the hell knows? Certainly I don’t. One thing that is perfectly obvious, however, is that Cheong Wa Dae has a case of the leaksies. This isn’t the first case of a secret documents pertaining to the U.S. and USFK being leaked, although it seemed before that Democratic Labor Party lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan was the recipient of choice of such leaks. Someone behind the Gyeongbokgung Palace has a tough time keeping his mouth shut, and it remains to be seen if the presidential office can find out who it is.
6 Comments
Rho has been slowly putting questionable characters into NSC and now it has too many Commies. Notwithstanding the name, “National Security Council”, the committee now has several people who have different priorities than defending the Republic of Korea. They want the unification so bad that they are willing to overthrow the Republic of Korea and combine two Koreas under China.
These guys who leaked the state’s secret has to be found and shot. They are working for the enemy(NorK and China). They deserve to be hang by their testi***s and shot at the same time.
Many people including Americans and Koreans have died to defend the country. It can not be given over to China as these Commies want! They are not even the majority. Maybe 20% at most.
Kill ‘em Commies!
Don’t hold back, Baduk. Tell us how you really feel.
Baduk’s always a tough act to follow
But the Blue House seems to be saying it’s too late to complain:
“President Roh called on the nation to pay more attention to future negotiations over the new U.S. strategy, rather than engage in consumptive debate and defeatism,” Cheong Wa Dae said in a brief statement. (from Yonhap)
Never quite sure what Roh is getting at, maybe the leaks are an intentional Blue House strategy to look like they’re bullied by the U.S., or the U.S. really is bullying S.K. and Roh is making an appeal to his troops, or….
I’ve been saying for a few months now that we are back in a prime environment for a fresh spike in anti-US activity, and damn it, one day I’m going to be proven right, as long as I keep saying it….
But seriously, the signs are out there, and this idiocy with Strategic Flexibility is one of them.
Hyper-sensitivy is never a good sign for the US in Korea, and the strategic flexibility brouhaha along with the high anxiety over the new ambassador are clear cut signs Korea is hyper-sensitive at the moment.
The stuff on s.f. is stupid, because Korea will always have the right to refuse allowing the US to use Korean soil and airspace as a launching pad for any conflict outside of Korea, and the US will always have the right to remove any or all the troops — regardless of what is said on paper. The idea we hear that s.f. is Korea giving the US permission to “force Korea into a war against its will” is horseshit. Clearly so. But, Korean society is hellbent on arguing about it…….because of hyper-sensitivty.
Other signs over the last 6 months or so have been the press willing to support the anti-US groups and give them more play. (Voice of People is all over Strategic Flexibility too). Another is how the KTU went ahead with its vile APEC lesson plan when it saw enough of the society was not going to rise up against them. The anti-US groups have been able to muster fairly sizable and violent demonstrations since last spring. Another is Roh feeling comfortable enough to even jump out of China’s shadow by denying the fake dollars claim even though China had said it was convinced the week before, and Roh finally getting back into a strong push for control of the military in war time (something he mentioned in 2002 but laid off of when the fear of a anti-Korean backlash rose as the US media started covering what was going on).
All of these are signs the society is primed for a spike in anti-US activity like we have not seen since 2003, I believe.
I think the only question is what might spark it.
I wish the news would be more clear about when the deadline is for getting Pyongtaek base construction fully underway —- when will the Korean government have to force the die-hard hold outs off the land?
I agree. As Korea’s economy continues to sink and the US closes ever more bases, the Koreans will become uneasy. This is perfect timing for a hate-in. The left in Korea knows how close it is to having the USA leave for good so the Dear Leader must turn up the heat soon. The latest “issue” seems to be “base contamination,” as if any Korean company ever gave a shit about the environment. The Korea Lies gave it quite a bit of space today as well.
“usinkorea” is right on the money. The whole issue of s.f. is being blown out of proportion to lay the groundwork for more anti-Americanism. Roh is looking for a “bounce” in his popularity from all this. It’s clear that Roh believes his future is tied to unifying the country against the US while continuing to dangle the reunification carrot. He has no idea how to reunify or what that even entails. He continues to look the other way while the DPRK commit one attrocity after another, while he alienates the one country that was — and continues to be — responsible for his country’s existence. The man truly does not know his ass from his elbow.
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[...] The man who leaked secret documents pertaining to Korea-U.S. negotiations over the issue of “strategic flexibility” to an Uri Party lawmaker was a Foreign Ministry official dispatched to Cheong Wa Dae as a protocol officer, reports the JoongAng Ilbo (see also the Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo). From the JoongAng: Speculation is rising that Lee Jong-heon, the mid-level Blue House official who leaked classified documents on strategic flexibility, did so as a result of clashes within the government regarding Korea’s alliance with the United States. Political analysts said yesterday that Mr. Lee has long been noted for his calls for Korea to be more independent in the alliance. Discord between Mr. Lee’s faction and a group in favor of the alliance have long been an issue under the Roh administration and analysts say the leak is proof of this. They claim Mr. Lee gave the documents to a governing Uri Party lawmaker to make the U.S. strategic flexibility agreement an issue and thus embarrass Unification Minister Lee Jeong-seok. [...]