By There is quite a big difference currently on the way on how presidential transitions are being conducted in South Korea. Here is quite an unsurprising tale from the presidential transition period in 2002 after Roh Moo-hyun won the South Korean election:
Together with the ministry officials whose faces will have turned pale before the committee, I recall an incident that took place at about this time five years ago. The Transition Committee at the time was really a revolutionary headquarters: it was baying for blood. Citizens were somewhat baffled by the brutal atmosphere, since power remained in the hands of the same party.
In the incident I have in mind, the president elect was being briefed on foreign affairs. Leading the briefing team was the presidential special assistant at the time. Shortly after the briefing started, there was a great deal of shouting and a man rushed out of the office. People outside must have been anxious enough already at the prospect of entering the revolutionary headquarters. Witnessing that scene on top of it must have made the officials turn a whiter shade of pale.
Nobody in the office dared to open their mouth: you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. It was only several months after the revolutionary force moved into the presidential office that I heard bits of stories that allowed me to piece together a picture of what happened that day.
Apparently, while the chief briefer was telling the president elect about Korean-American relations, one of the attendees cut in to make supportive remarks. This brought on a dose of the "imperial wrath." Someone shouted, "You’re a pro-American, aren‘t you? Get the hell out of here!" So the official fled. The rumor sent a chill down the spines of government officials. At that time, nobody realized that this had been a trailer for "The Korea-U.S. Tiff", a movie that was to be screened throughout the duration of the Roh administration.
The movie meandered on, as we all remember. At one point, the president was heard to say, "But for the U.S., I would now be incarcerated in a North Korean political prison camp,†the next he was saying, “The problem is with Koreans who love America more than the Americans." Presidential aides, meanwhile, attacked "those who have studied in the U.S. and who are fluent in English." The tale came to a head when the foreign minister made the amazing confession, “There are no pro-Americans in the Foreign Ministry.â€Â [Chosun Ilbo]
Five years later and boy how times have changed and I must admit definitely for the better with the announcement that the new South Korean president elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition committee is looking at doing away with the Kim Jong-il stooges in the Ministry of Unification. The ministry is so desperate to keep their jobs that they have even given up on the Sunshine Policy:
The Unification Ministry apparently omits the term "Sunshine Policy" in a report it will submit Monday to president-elect Lee Myung-bak’s Transition Committee, it emerged Sunday. There, the ministry will reportedly tell the committee about any problems in matters the Roh Moo-hyun administration agreed with North Korea, including at the latest summit last year. Since the October summit alone, the Roh administration has reached as many as 200 agreements with the North. [Chosun Ilbo]
It is quite satisfying to see the useful idiots in the Unification Ministry getting what they so rightfully deserve after their actions and comments these past five years. The transition team is also going after the useful idiots in the Education Ministry as well as overhauling the national pension system, and finding ways of increasing foreign direct investment into South Korea. This all seems like a much more useful and responsible transition effort compared to 2002 where the transition team was trying to figure out who the pro-Americans were to purge.Â
As good as all this news from Lee Myung-bak is, not all of it is rosy though. If you think Lee’s canal idea is absurd well you will find the fact that he still has plans of constructing the slave labor island in the maritime DMZ even more absurd:
According to a ministry document the Chosun Ilbo has seen, the ministry will restructure as an organization planning and implementing the president-elect’s North Korea policy. It will also report a year-by-year plan to the committee on realizing his campaign promise to build Nadeul Island — a complex for inter-Korean economic cooperation on a 29.70 million sq. meter-wide area 10 times the size of Yeouido in Seoul in the mouth of the Han River northeast of Ganghwa Island. The report will include an environmental evaluation of the construction area this year. [Chosun Ilbo]
I really have to wonder what the US government’s reaction to the proposed slave labor island will be, but I’m willing to bet it will be one of indifference since the slave labor project in Kaesong continues to operate without US objections. The Sunshine Policy may be dead, but I will have a hard time believing anything Lee Myung-bak says in regards to North Korean human rights issues as long as he continues to advocate for a slave labor island. The only reason I could think of to support Lee’s canal would be if it means less money available to send to finance Kim Jong-il. Well now I have a second reason to support the canal if it means there will be no money and resources left over to build the slave labor island.Â
5:27 am on January 8th, 2008 1
Slave labor island?
You are really inspired.
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5:50 am on January 8th, 2008 2
I will be interested to see how Lee will end up handling the Unification Ministry and how successfully. It will give me a better idea of what is going on among average Koreans since I’m now so far away.
The conservatives had a big day in the presidential election, but are they still the minority group in the Assembly?
Whatever the case, I need to see how the society reacts to the changes with the U. Ministry.
I am sure most Koreans are glad that the Uni. types are no longer running the Blue House and government policy as a whole….that is what the big win for the conservatives says….
…..but I am not so sure the bulk of Koreans have moved to the point they don’t like the idea of the Uni crowd….
My view of Korean society has been that they like the Blue House to keep the best interest of the country in mind while the National Assembly and civic groups like the labor unions and the U. Ministry planned to nationalistic sentiments and feel-good fiction — like Koreans are all one and Pyongyang ain’t so bad….
I’m not sure if the majority of Koreans are ready to do away with the unifiction side of Korean politics and the government…..
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7:29 am on January 8th, 2008 3
500 million bucks (the cost of a Nobel Prize) down the drain? I’m sure everyone will remember the newspaper survey from two yrs ago that said a large majority of S Koreans would fight for the North if a war were to happen. Really this means they’d be willing to kill Americans and probably other foreigners as well. I don’t think much has changed in 2 yrs. Korea isn’t changing that fast, if at all really.
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7:52 am on January 8th, 2008 4
That’s not what the poll said. The poll said half the Korean would ’side with North Korea’ (not ‘fight for North Korea’) if the United States unilaterally attacked North Korea without first consulting with South Korea.
The question was who would you support if the United States unilaterally declared war on north korea (like they did against Sadam Hussein’s Iraq).
And sites like this twisted the meaning of the poll around to suit their agenda.
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8:12 am on January 8th, 2008 5
Oh I see, so the Koreans who sided with the North would sit on their thumbs and do nothing? There are many dimensions to “side with” and it’s entirely conceiveable to expect S Koreans to take up arms against their savoirs considering how much they hate Americans.
Even if they were not to fight against their allies, it’s almost as bad to side with their real enemy. It just another form of support. Smells like fifth column talk to me anyway.
The whole idea of the US invading the North without support of, or consulting with S Korea is a Korean Left Wing media spin anyway. Pure bullshit. How would the S Koreans not see the mobilization anyway? Explain that one to me please.
It’s just another reason why the US military should pull out here. Shitty allies, that’s all they are and they keep proving it again and again.
For all those who are insecure, and there are millions, I’m not saying Koreans are shitty people btw, just shitty allies.
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8:43 am on January 8th, 2008 6
Tom,
Please provide evidence that I “twisted the meaning” of the poll. If anything I have been highly skeptical of polls coming out of Korea.
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9:01 am on January 8th, 2008 7
Presidential aides, meanwhile, attacked “those who have studied in the U.S. and who are fluent in English.”
Jealousy is such an ugly emotion. Besides Chung Dumb-young, I wonder how many other aides have sent their children or are intending to send their children to be educated in the US.
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10:50 am on January 8th, 2008 8
I wholeheartedly agree with GI about the suspect nature of South Korean polls. I think there has been a lot of manufactured news over the past 10 years—propaganda, if you will. Much of this is going to suddenly dry up now that that jackass and his cronies are out of office. Listen carefully and you can practically hear the paper shredders working overtime in the Blue House…
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4:17 am on January 9th, 2008 9
I have always wondered why a fair amount of Koreans didn’t send their children to the UK or Australia – given the percentage of anti-US thought in the society and the number that have a sympathetic ear to what a Roh has to say…..
Is it much harder for a Korean to get a student visa in the UK?
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5:24 am on January 9th, 2008 10
As far as a I know it is easier to get visas to the UK and Australia but remember the US has the largest expat Korean population which means many of the people wanting to come over already have family that live in the US or will just feel more comfortable living near one of the large Korean communities in the US.
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9:55 am on January 9th, 2008 11
There are a couple more reasons.
Brand-name recognition: Mention Queens University or Monash University to even a highly educated Korean, and it is likely you will get a blank look.
Hakbeul, or academic cliques: Korean university students often seek admission to university programs which have prominent Korean faculty, who provide mentoring and post-graduate connections.
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11:41 am on January 9th, 2008 12
“I have always wondered why a fair amount of Koreans didn’t send their children to the UK or Australia”
Because they don’t want their kids to talk funny.
Try to get a job at ETRI or KAIST when you insist on taking the owl-you-mini-hum to the lah-bore-ah-tory.
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5:56 am on January 22nd, 2008 13
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