The Kyunghyang Shinmun is reporting that presidential security adviser Song Min-soon has been “virtually” tabbed to replace Ban Ki-moon as foreign minister.
Yes, that is the same Song Min-soon who last week decried Korea’s “absurd” security situation and claimed the United States has “fought more wars than any other nation in the history of its establishment and survival.”
Coincidentally, multiple government and diplomatic sources told the JoongAng Ilbo that the White House National Security Council has officially requested an explanation of Song’s statements. When asked by the paper to confirm, U.S. Ambassador Vershbow said Washington has asked Seoul to explain the context of the Song’s comments.
Good.
A diplomatic source in Seoul told the JoongAng Ilbo that Washington believed Song was describing the United States as Pyongyang normally does, namely, as a warmonger bent on invading North Korea. He also said he understands the United States has judged his comment as disrespect for the 54,000 U.S. casualties suffered during the Korean War and a rejection of the Korea-U.S. alliance.
After receiving the U.S. request, the Foreign Ministry said Song’s comments were taken out of context, and that Song basically said that to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, Seoul and Washington need to speak with a coordinated voice. Song himself told the JoongAng that the problem has already been resolved, the U.S. side having shown “sufficient understanding” after getting both a copy of Song’s address and an explanation.
Anyway…
The foreign minister job isn’t the only cabinet position being changed. Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung also tendered his resignation yesterday, and this morning (BREAKING NEWS), Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok offered his, although some apparently feel Lee’s offer will be rejected by Roh and is a deliberate move to get the president’s vote of confidence amidst opposition pressure for his scalp.
Yoon’s replacement as defense minister should be named sometime next week. I don’t claim to have any idea what kind of figure Roh’s going to name. The fact that he’s reportedly chosen Song as the next foreign minister, however, leads me to believe Cheong Wa Dae is tired of the infighting between itself and the Unification Ministry on one side and the Foreign and Defense ministries on the other, so we might see someone who fits Roh’s “code” as the next Defense Minister. In the short term, this might be a good thing for Seoul, since South Korea might at least be able to put together something resembling a coherent foreign policy, especially in regards to North Korea and the United States. On the other hand, if the foreign and defense ministries become dominated by Roh loyalists, things could get very, very rocky in the Korea-U.S. relationship for the rest of this administration’s term.
UPDATE: Maybe Unification Minister’s resignation is for real after all. He sure is bitching like it was (via Newsis):
At a press conference this morning, Lee said, “With the fruits of intra-Korean reconciliation being indisciminently placed on the chopping board since North Korea’s nuclear test and now becoming a point of political strife, it’s time for a new and more capable unification minister to search for bipartisan cooperation.”
He also said he understands President Roh will accept his resignation. Lee expressed his desire to return to academia after he steps down.
16 Comments
Lee’s resignation offer is not sincere. If it were, then the Yonhap slug would be “Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok resigns” rather than “Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok offers to resign.”
Taking Lee’s resignation would be a nice way for Roh to signal the North about how seriously he takes this nuke test issue but I am not sure myself how seriously he takes it.
It doesn’t matter who cuts the deck or how many times the cards are shuffled…the cards are still marked; this game is rigged.
If Lee’s resignation is really for real, I would be happy to be wrong.
It’s not a change for the worse. Roh’s government will simply continue doing what it’s been doing since he was elected, which is to drum up anti-American and Japanese sentiment to cover up their own shortcomings. I take solace in the fact that the next presidential elections aren’t too far away.
What is Lee Jong-Seok talking about? It’s misdirection: The nuclear test is the fruit of intra-Korean reconciliation. The next fruit will be the final dissolution of the US-Korea alliance. Roh and his gang will do everything possible in the remaining months of their reign to piss on the graves of American soldiers and to repudiate the largesse ladled onto their ungrateful nation by the foolish Uncle Sam. After all, those are their orders from Pyongyang. A friendless South Korea isolated from the US and Japan, with an underfunded, demoralized military, will be ripe for the picking. Probably won’t even put up a fight.
Is there anyone left who does not believe these guys take their orders from Pyongyang? Quite frankly, delivering the Republic of Korea to Kim Jong Il is probably looking like the only way these Roh and Uri Party fools, and the 386ers they seduced, will avoid long terms of imprisonment once their power is ended. I hope (and am confident) that during the last four years they’ve stolen enough money for their families, though.
This does, however, make one hanker for a good ol’ fashioned coup d’etat, however much damage that might seem to cause Korean democracy. Lead (hot lead) poisoning seems like a good end for Roh Moo Hyun and his evil clique of Communists. All hail Baduk!
But here’s a question: If reunification takes place on Pyongyang’s terms, how long would it take before the relative prosperity of South Korea leads to overthrow of the current North Korean government?
Yeah, you can read that statement any number of ways as to who is doing the indiscriminate placing of the ‘fruits.’.
The Roh government and the Uri party has one more year of life left before they melt away into insignificance.
Let’s look at the bright side, how much damage can they do in one year? And everyone knows that the next government won’t be Uri or any left-wing offshot, which means a government that will work to get the alliance on track.
Couldn’t agree more, mins0306. I doubt anyone even remotely associated with Kim Dae Jung or Roh Moo Hyun will win the next elections.
I guess nobody told the goons int he Uri party that when the commies take over, the left wingers and collaborators are the first ones lined up against the wall and shot
Shhhh…dont tell them.
President Roh is a COMMUNIST!!! Off with his head! Hahahhaa, he’s going to get impeached for the second time! *** ROFL ***
–Remort
This last year in power is for all those Uri Party mediocrities to polish up their nationalist credentials so they can return to academia as heroic patriots.
So brace yourselves for all kinds of pro-Nork statements from them in the months ahead.
So, this Commie will be next Korean Foreign minister? The UN Secretary Ban will pass resolutions condemning NK and this Commie will fight Mr. Ban and the US on the issue.
It will be an interesting fight. A Korean fighting another Korean. Throw some chairs at the UN meetings?
The US should deny Visa to this Commie. Just dig his past. I am sure he did something illegal against the US. Deny Visa to this Commie!
it’d be nice if members of the the US administration could resign for every screw up they made. With a population of only 300 million, it would give every US citizen avery probable chance of becoming a cabinet member at least once in ther lives, if for only 6 months.
However, presidents would still likely be entitled to complete their term in office unless they were proven to give a nod to an illegal break-in to a hotel by two guys, although at the risk of sacking if caught for receiving a headjob from an office aide.
Illegal invasions and the slaughter of thousands of foreign citizens would be ok though, if preceded by a well-deserved fucking-up-the-ass such as 9-11. Because few of our citizens at the time would fail to recocognize such a slap in the face as well-deserved, they wouldsupport any action the aforementioned bitten dog felt fit.
dlatn, if I just heard you call this well deserved, I urge you to follow sound medical advice and get back on your meds.
And wash them down with a bottle of gin.
Yes, I also wonder how many Roh’s parachutes left, but I could see this regime stepped in implosive phase, along with KJI regime.
dlatn: that’s a lot of different sarcastic points jumbled together. I think I got most of them, but you’ve got to spell out at least two for me in more detail:
1) “..presidents would still likely be entitled to complete their term in office unless they were proven to give a nod to an illegal break-in to a hotel by two guys…”
I think you mean the Watergate break-in (?) (during the Nixon administration). If so, you need to know that the Watergate was (& still is?) not a hotel, but (going from memory) actually a complex of offices and condominiums (ie apartments owned rather than rented). The actual break-in occurred in the Democratic party national headquarters, which I’m going to guess was on the ground floor of one of the buildings (more than one tower, so it’s often referred to as the Watergate “complex). The “burglars”, whose code word for themselves was “plumbers” (I think there were several of them present that night, not just two) propped the door open somehow.
And this was noticed by an alert security guard, who just happened to be an alert American of ethnic Korean descent! He turned them in because he hated Republicans, knowing even then that the young “W” he’d seen following his daddy around DC was going to be the bane of all Korea someday! (Ok, I admit I made this last part up….)
2) “…Because few of our citizens at the time would fail to recocognize such a slap in the face as well-deserved, they wouldsupport any action the aforementioned bitten dog felt fit.”
This one’s got me completely “buffaloed.” I like the use of “aforementioned”, as I think that’s a good word that is underused; but to what antecedent does “bitten dog” refer?
I gather that in Korea it’s the humans that do the biting upon the dogs rather than the other way around — which makes for even more confusion.
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[...] Update 1: Robert Koehler notes that Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-Ung, a relative moderate, is also out. Worse, Ban’s likely replacement is none other than this anti-American fool, Song Min-Soon. If selected, Song would be the first Korean cabinet offical to earn both an informal diplomatic protest and his own DOA post before even being nominated. Again, I ask: what kind of alliance can you form with people of this quality? ‘Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.’ [...]
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