PSI
I mentioned in my roundup of Korean press reports last night that Korea’s ruling Uri Party would oppose Seoul’s full participation in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Well, Uri Party chief Kim Keun-tae once again stated his opposition to participation in the PSI during an emergency policy coordination meeting with the government this morning (Korean version here).
The Korean edition of that piece cites several Uri Party lawmakers stating their absolute opposition to Korean participation in the PSI, especially if it means Korean naval ships boarding North Korean vessels suspected of carrying WMD-related cargo. Uri Party floor leader Kim Han-kil:
We cannot agree to any measure predicted to bring armed intervention on the Korean Peninsula.
Uri Party Rep. Im Jong-seok, a high-ranking member of the National Assembly’s diplomacy, security and unification committee:
It’s disastrous for the government to say it will act according to the level of debate in the UNSC… The moment we participate in the PSI, we’ll run into fierce North Korean resistance, which will lead to additional North Korean resistance.
Uri Party General Secretary Kim Woo-shik:
The government seems to be in commotion, and how can you just “search” a North Korean ship without the use of force? It might be difficult for the government to oppose the U.S. demand, but Korean must never expand its participation in the PSI.
Uri Party public relations committee chief Lee Mok-hee:
To stop and search North Korean vessels in our [South Korea] waters is not an easy matter from our position as a special concerned party.
The government has not yet decided to expand its participation in the PSI, but it will come under increasing pressure to do so from the United States (and, probably, Japan). Adding to the pressure is the opposition Grand National Party, which is demanding the government immediately up its status in the PSI to full participant. As far as I know, no public opinion polls have been taken about the PSI participation issue, although I can’t imagine many Koreans being thrilled about the idea of South Korean sailors boarding North Korean ships. Either way, this is going to be a very tough call by the government, especially if—as I believe it will—the UNSC issues a watered-down statement on the nuke test.
CSI
The most-looked at piece on Naver.com is the Yonhap story on the confession of the mother of the French Freezer Babies.
Kim Won-ung Strikes Again
Why, I don’t know, but the Dong-A Ilbo gave plenty of space to Uri Party nutcase Kim Won-ung to spout out about how President Bush ruined the Sunshine Policy, and how in a couple of months everyone will be talking about how Seoul’s engagement policy is keeping the peace on the Korean Peninsula.
He also castigated U.S. Ambassador Sandy Vershbow (but stopped short this time of threatening him with expulsion) for suggesting (in the Dong-A Ilbo, “demanding”) that South Korea suspend the Kaesong and Kumgangsan projects, saying, “Ambassador Vershbow must adopt an attitude of respect for the position of the host nation. An ambassador must refrain from comments and actions that are overly based in the position of his own nation.”
Well, on behalf of the American people, I thank Rep. Kim for reminding an American civil servant paid by American taxpayer money of what his duties are, namely, to kiss the ass of his host nation. As an act of gratitude, I’ll offer some advice of my own, namely, that a ruling party lawmaker should refrain from sponsoring parliamentary bills making territorial claims on a neighboring state some 100 times larger than you in the face of strong opposition from your own government and party leadership… and doubly so when your party chairman is visiting the state in question.
8 Comments
I’ll say it again. A GNP-run government would do business differently with the Norks.
As much as I would like to see a naval blockade it won’t happen due to South Korean and Chinese objections which will mean that NK gets hit with watered down sanctions. Kim Jong-il counted on being condemned by the international community after a test and figured even the Chinese would bad mouth him but when it came time for punishment the Chinese and the South Koreans would stop the US from doing anything that would bring down his regime like a naval blockade. I don’t see the US implementing a naval blockade without a UN Security Council resolution which means Kim may have less cognac in his cellar this winter due to sanctions but he will still be in power and will continue to perfect his nuclear weapons just as I’m sure he counted on before he did this test.
Well, let’s to be fair, there’s no naval blockage for them to object to. We can’t blame that on the Chinese and ROK when we don’t even have the balls to go that far in our sanctions proposal. I, like you, would love to see a full scale blockage. Our country’s proposed sanctions were crap on a stick.
while it may depend on your definition of diplomacy, our ambassadors here have fine tradition of interfering in South Korea’s domestic affairs, its all part of the occupation, for want of a better word. If Vershbow can last a few more years, he’ll be able to snare his book deal on peninsula affairs like all those that came before him. having met him, and a few of his predecessors in non-formal settings over the years, i can’t think but that the state department chooses a slect type to post here. fortunately, US diplomats in most other nations behave as true guests and fine representatives of the US.
Why doesn’t President Roh and the Uri Party just call themselves what they really are — communists?
–Remort
In fact there is no evidence that any of the US ambassdors in the past two decades, going back to Jim Lilley, got book contracts, based on what they’ve published, unless you count Laney’s contributions to Council on Foreign Relations Task Force publications. The absurd “occupation” charge has been demolished many times elsewhere and I’d say you need to provide evidence to back up your assertion that Versbow was interfering in ROK affairs.
slim, why limit yourself to reading books about Korea that were written by former US service personel in the Korean war and Newsweek journalists when you can can the deep inside story from our Ambassadors that were working at the coalface?
Take a tip from the internet generation, my friend put me on to a web site called google.com its pretty tricky stuff, but from the web page, you can input search data and find things information all over the internet. even things my mom doesn’t know! I don’t really understand the mathematics behind it, but you can find information that you were not aware of prior to.
As far as interfering in ROK affairs, that would be a matter of opinion, but Vershbow is not exercising the skills that our diplomats normally excercise in other countries, or are normally exercied by diplomats of other countries. I was merely suggesting that this appears to be normal practice for US diplomats in South Korea (no policy, just attitude), and perhaps a result of our placement of troops here, if you compare it with our relationships with other host countries around the world.
A call for evidence is not adequately answered with a suggestion to go to Google. I’m also waiting for you to put some credible links where your mouth is.