EDITORIAL

September 28, 2006

Chosun Ilbo - South Korea - Original Article (English)

President Roh Moo-hyun: Has implied that those
who oppose the American handover of wartime
control of Korean forces to Seoul are in favor of
dictatorship. (above).

—BBC VIDEO: North Korea says it will
be 'compelled' to hold a nuclear test
'in the future, Oct. 4, 00:03:12

A Korean veteran holds a red banner reading
'Withdraw President Roh Moo-Hyun,' urging the
government to stop pushing for wartime control
of Korean forces from the U.S. (below).


----------------------------------------------------

The President [Roh Moo-hyun] has done it again. On a TV program Thursday night he slammed the "arrogant attitude" of people who worry that the U.S. handover of wartime operational control of Korean troops will endanger the country’s security. Their belief that only those who supported past dictatorships alone are patriots "is no help to the future of the nation." He demanded, "Do you really think that pro-democracy activists are unwilling or incapable of protecting the nation?"

Those who oppose our sole exercise of operational control, then, are supporters of dictatorship, and those who favor it are champions of democracy. Even over this vital question of national security, he divided the nation into "us" and "them." The Administration's first foreign minister, its first defense minister, its first ambassador to the U.S. and its first presidential defense and security adviser, have all expressed concern over the President's obsession with "independence," which is why he hammered through the issue of operational control. Does this mean that the President's entire inaugural diplomatic and security team were worshippers of dictatorship?

"South Korea is taking back operational control because it's the right thing to do," the President said. The growing danger of war is one thing, he said, and operational control is another.

However, under the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, the two allies jointly exercise operational control, and its deterrent effect is among the best in the world. No war must ever break out in our land. That is why until a lasting peace has been declared and assured, we should not take over sole operational control. And yet the President says the risk of war has nothing to do with operational control.

On Korea-U.S. relations, the President says that if the U.S. President and responsible officials say there are no problems, then there are no problems. But this is an unsophisticated perspective. Everyone knows that before the U.S. president and his underlings say that relations are troubled, they must first be beyond repair. Moon Jung-in, the ambassador for international affairs and security who is said to advise the President, said "Our relations with the U.S. are seriously troubled." The New York Times reported a barbed comment from a U.S. official that the gap in perceptions between Korea and the U.S. is as wide as the Far East. It is juvenile to believe everything is fine simply because the U.S. President makes polite noise about how nice things are.

Koreans heard the president say that our sole exercise of operational control means the retrieval of our national sovereignty, and many were enthusiastic. But they have changed their minds after listening to the concerns of former defense ministers, armed forces veterans, intellectuals, former foreign ministers and vice ministers, former police chiefs, Protestant ministers and other prominent figures. President Roh Moo-hyun alone, perhaps because he has shut his ears for good, keeps banging on about independence.