I think this month couldn’t make things any more clearer what the state of relations between the US and South Korea are currently at:

In a rare diplomatic event, Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak is to have a meeting with President George W. Bush next month in Washington. It is the first time since 1987 that a U.S. president will officially meet an opposition presidential candidate prior to an election in Korea.
It is “highly probable that the meeting between the two men will occur on Oct. 15 or 16,” said Lee’s spokesman Park Hyeong-joon in announcing the unusual event yesterday. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

What is most funny about this is the condemnation this news has received from the Blue House:

The Blue House seemed uncomfortable with the news. There has frequently been tension between Roh’s liberal Blue House and the tough conservatism of the Bush White House.
A senior aide to Roh scoffed at the announcement, calling it “pro-American flunkeyism.”

This is coming from the same administration that is meeting with Kim Jong-il this month to pay tribute to a nation that threatens military invasion of the country, kidnaps South Korean citizens, launched terrorist attacks against South Korean targets, murders military personnel, and on top of all this imprisons hundreds of thousands of its own people in forced labor camps.

Yet this government has the nerve to condemn Lee for visiting the president of the nation that just happened to be directly responsible for the very existence of South Korea and continues to guarantee economic and national security of the nation?

Popularity: 3%