Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 11, 2008
Pg. 11
By Norimitsu Onishi
SEOUL, South Korea — President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday that he would focus on repairing South Korea’s strained relations with the United States during a visit to Washington next week, his first since his inauguration on Feb. 25.
In an hourlong interview, Mr. Lee, a conservative, unequivocally stressed the importance of maintaining United States troops on the Korean Peninsula and said the two countries shared objectives in their policies toward North Korea.
Mr. Lee said he was still committed to drawing North Korea out of its shell by engaging it economically, despite the verbal tit-for-tat between the Koreas in recent weeks. Mr. Lee portrayed the exchanges, including the North’s description of him as a “traitor” and a “U.S. sycophant,” as instances in which the countries were “testing each other” at the start of the new South Korean administration.
Mr. Lee spoke a day after his Grand National Party secured a thin majority in the National Assembly, winning 153 seats in the 299-seat legislature. Given Mr. Lee’s own landslide victory last December, his supporters had hoped for a clear-cut victory that would have allowed him to pass difficult legislation against liberal opposition.
But Mr. Lee’s approval ratings have declined in recent weeks because of growing popular doubts about his promises to revive the economy and his appointment of ministers who were later forced to step down over problematic real estate dealings. Also, lawmakers loyal to a rival bolted from Mr. Lee’s party, handing electoral defeats to some of his closest allies this week.
Although conservatives like the president dominate the National Assembly, this week’s results will require deal-making and compromise from Mr. Lee, a former Hyundai executive and mayor of Seoul who is known for his take-charge style and is nicknamed the Bulldozer.
Mr. Lee said the election indicated that the “Korean people are fully supporting” his policies on reviving the economy, but he added that “we will be discussing fully and all the time with the opposition parties regarding important policy matters.”
Mr. Lee said he would focus on passing legislation to deregulate the economy and ratifying a free trade agreement with the United States. It is unclear whether he will now have the votes to lift barriers on the import of American beef, a critical condition for passage in Washington.
On his first trip overseas since taking office, Mr. Lee will spend four days in the United States and meet President Bush at Camp David, where they are scheduled to hold a joint news conference on April 19.
Although relations between the countries have improved greatly since last year, when the Bush administration softened its hard-line stance on North Korea, Mr. Bush and Mr. Lee’s predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, a liberal, had often appeared ill at ease with each other. Mr. Bush had also rejected the so-called sunshine policy toward the North initiated by Mr. Roh’s predecessor, Kim Dae-jung.
“During the last 10 years, this relationship, of course it hasn’t been damaged beyond repair, but there were some instances where we did experience some difficulties, and some damage has been done to the relationship between Korea and the United States,” Mr. Lee said. “So during my visit next week to the United States, I hope, first of all, to repair this and to bring about trust and to rebuild the trust between the two countries.”
During Mr. Roh’s administration, officials on both sides warned, though privately, of serious problems in the security alliance. Instead of stressing the alliance’s importance, Mr. Roh talked of South Korea’s role as a “balancer” in the region while Americans spoke privately of the possibility of one day withdrawing troops from the South.
But Mr. Lee dismissed the idea of withdrawal.
“No. 1, the role of the U.S. forces in Korea, as we all know, is deterrence — is to prevent a war from breaking out here on the Korean Peninsula, and in that sense, they do a tremendous job,” he said. “Secondly, it goes beyond that because by the mere presence of the U.S. forces in Korea, they contribute to the peace and stability of East Asia and beyond Northeast Asia as well.”
In the continuing six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear program, the two countries had often seemed driven by different goals, with the United States worried about nuclear proliferation and South Korea more concerned about maintaining stability on the peninsula.
Mr. Lee acknowledged that motivations were “slightly different,” but he said that the shared objective was to denuclearize the North.
Talks between the United States and North Korea are stalled over a condition in the February 2007 deal calling for the North’s “complete and correct” accounting of its nuclear weapons activities. North Korea has said it has already given a full account, while the United States is pushing for further clarification.
April 11, 2008
Pg. 11
By Norimitsu Onishi
SEOUL, South Korea — President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday that he would focus on repairing South Korea’s strained relations with the United States during a visit to Washington next week, his first since his inauguration on Feb. 25.
In an hourlong interview, Mr. Lee, a conservative, unequivocally stressed the importance of maintaining United States troops on the Korean Peninsula and said the two countries shared objectives in their policies toward North Korea.
Mr. Lee said he was still committed to drawing North Korea out of its shell by engaging it economically, despite the verbal tit-for-tat between the Koreas in recent weeks. Mr. Lee portrayed the exchanges, including the North’s description of him as a “traitor” and a “U.S. sycophant,” as instances in which the countries were “testing each other” at the start of the new South Korean administration.
Mr. Lee spoke a day after his Grand National Party secured a thin majority in the National Assembly, winning 153 seats in the 299-seat legislature. Given Mr. Lee’s own landslide victory last December, his supporters had hoped for a clear-cut victory that would have allowed him to pass difficult legislation against liberal opposition.
But Mr. Lee’s approval ratings have declined in recent weeks because of growing popular doubts about his promises to revive the economy and his appointment of ministers who were later forced to step down over problematic real estate dealings. Also, lawmakers loyal to a rival bolted from Mr. Lee’s party, handing electoral defeats to some of his closest allies this week.
Although conservatives like the president dominate the National Assembly, this week’s results will require deal-making and compromise from Mr. Lee, a former Hyundai executive and mayor of Seoul who is known for his take-charge style and is nicknamed the Bulldozer.
Mr. Lee said the election indicated that the “Korean people are fully supporting” his policies on reviving the economy, but he added that “we will be discussing fully and all the time with the opposition parties regarding important policy matters.”
Mr. Lee said he would focus on passing legislation to deregulate the economy and ratifying a free trade agreement with the United States. It is unclear whether he will now have the votes to lift barriers on the import of American beef, a critical condition for passage in Washington.
On his first trip overseas since taking office, Mr. Lee will spend four days in the United States and meet President Bush at Camp David, where they are scheduled to hold a joint news conference on April 19.
Although relations between the countries have improved greatly since last year, when the Bush administration softened its hard-line stance on North Korea, Mr. Bush and Mr. Lee’s predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, a liberal, had often appeared ill at ease with each other. Mr. Bush had also rejected the so-called sunshine policy toward the North initiated by Mr. Roh’s predecessor, Kim Dae-jung.
“During the last 10 years, this relationship, of course it hasn’t been damaged beyond repair, but there were some instances where we did experience some difficulties, and some damage has been done to the relationship between Korea and the United States,” Mr. Lee said. “So during my visit next week to the United States, I hope, first of all, to repair this and to bring about trust and to rebuild the trust between the two countries.”
During Mr. Roh’s administration, officials on both sides warned, though privately, of serious problems in the security alliance. Instead of stressing the alliance’s importance, Mr. Roh talked of South Korea’s role as a “balancer” in the region while Americans spoke privately of the possibility of one day withdrawing troops from the South.
But Mr. Lee dismissed the idea of withdrawal.
“No. 1, the role of the U.S. forces in Korea, as we all know, is deterrence — is to prevent a war from breaking out here on the Korean Peninsula, and in that sense, they do a tremendous job,” he said. “Secondly, it goes beyond that because by the mere presence of the U.S. forces in Korea, they contribute to the peace and stability of East Asia and beyond Northeast Asia as well.”
In the continuing six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear program, the two countries had often seemed driven by different goals, with the United States worried about nuclear proliferation and South Korea more concerned about maintaining stability on the peninsula.
Mr. Lee acknowledged that motivations were “slightly different,” but he said that the shared objective was to denuclearize the North.
Talks between the United States and North Korea are stalled over a condition in the February 2007 deal calling for the North’s “complete and correct” accounting of its nuclear weapons activities. North Korea has said it has already given a full account, while the United States is pushing for further clarification.