South Korean editorials continue to slam the Roh administration for its staggering incompetence in all areas. The Joongang Ilbo remarks on Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung’s remarks about Seoul’s delusional ability to take wartime command by 2010, while the Dong-a Ilbo attacks the administration for its inability to have stopped members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Union from visiting North Korea, and its apparent unwillingness to enforce its own laws. The Chosun Ilbo flatly states that the, “Roh Moo-hyun administration is in effect losing its ability to rule… Something is very wrong,” and in another editorial highlights the prevalence of North Korean propaganda allowed in South Korea by the administration. The Korea Times highlights the cronyism in the Roh administration, while the left-of-center Korea Herald seems to be realizing that something is wrong in North Korea, “A normal aid recipient would try to avoid antagonizing a potential donor…”

Joongang Ilbo: Yoon’s remarks untimely

Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung made inappropriate remarks yesterday regarding the takeover of wartime control in a press conference that was held one day after former defense ministers gave their opinions to their successor. The timing and contents of the remarks were so inadequate that it seems doubtful that Mr. Yoon is the right person for the post.

[…]

Mr. Yoon ignored the former defense ministers’ advice, rather than transmitting it to the president. A deep-rooted problem in this administration, that of not listening to anyone outside, has appeared again. The former defense ministers have as sufficient knowledge and skills on national security as Mr. Yoon has, or probably even more than he has. Some of them have served as deputy commanders of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command. Mr. Yoon should have understood why these former defense ministers were so concerned that they had to go to him to deliver their thoughts.

[…]

Minister Yoon even divided the former defense ministers into two groups, saying “Those who worked as defense ministers a long time ago opposed Korea’s takeover of wartime command, but the ones who held the job recently did not oppose it.” The primary duty of a defense minister is to block the intervention of political logic into military affairs. If a defense minister serves as a mere messenger dispatched from the political power holder to the military, it is not helpful for the minister himself or for national security.

The defense minister should think seriously about the concerns of former defense ministers and of many other people about the plan to take over wartime control. (emphasis added)

Dong-a Ilbo: Pro-North Sympathizers

It was recently revealed that 50 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Union who participated in the May Day ceremony held in Pyongyang this spring paid tribute to the North Korean National Cemetery.

The North Korean National Cemetery is a sacred place where North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s late mother, Kim Jong Suk and other his family members and fallen high-ranking military officials are buried. The South Korean government has banned its people from visiting the place.

Those 50 who visited the cemetery did so in spite of the warning that South Korean officials of the Unification Ministry gave to them saying their act constitutes a violation of the National Security Law.

In spite of the magnitude of the incident, the Ministry of Unification just took simple administrative measures…

[…]

One can suspect that the Ministry deliberately waited due to concerns over the inter-Korean relations. The National Intelligence Service is reviewing their action to see whether they violated National Security Law Article 7 (Praising or Sympathizing), but has not taken a certain step.

Against the backdrop, pro-North Korean groups are paying little respect to the law and doing what they want. Web sites of Tongil Yondae or the Korea Reunification Alliance and the Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification in South Korea, both Pro-North Korean organizations in South Korea are saturated with posts praising North Korea’s military-first policy.

[…]

The Roh administration should bear the largest share of the responsibility because voices against North Korea have been drowned out and roles of the security authorities were reduced by the Sunshine Policy of engaging North Korea led by the previous Kim and the incumbent Roh administrations. Unconditional aid given to the North, precautious attitudes of not wanting to provoke the North and the National Security Law, little short of being lifted now plague the South. In contrast, the North never stops seeing the South its enemy. It is time for the South Korean public to take the lead to make things right, if not the government. (emphasis added)

Chosun Ilbo: Losing the Ability to Rule

The Roh Moo-hyun administration is in effect losing its ability to rule in the wake of North Korea’s missile tests and the personnel debacles involving the education minister. Not only is it losing its authority and competence, it has also ceased to function as a government. This goes beyond the lame-duck phenomena that happen toward the end of any administration; it is more than the gradual sapping of power. Something is very wrong.

The president and his closest aides are behaving like hedgehogs. Any move toward them is taken as hostile, and the spikes go up almost compulsively. When it claimed that the North’s missile tests represented a failure of U.S. policy, the government made a provocative remark it should not have made and that benefited no one. U.S. leaders, though inwardly concerned about their deteriorating relations with South Korea, were outwardly stressing the durability of the Seoul-Washington alliance. But our government leaders fell back on their habit of hurting their relations with the U.S. in words even while being dragged behind America. They seem to labor under the delusion that such remarks make them look patriotic, independent and clever.

[…]

Roh’s “my way” insistence on the appointment of the education and justice ministers, in the face of widespread opposition, reveals another facet of his arrogance and reluctance to admit defeat. From the point of view of common sense, presidential aides, competent or men of distinction though they may be, should at least not make themselves a nuisance to the president if they cannot be of any help.

[…]

Roh is in a bind. If he attempts to straighten out the situation by accepting defeat and relinquishing his loyalty to his followers, he will lose the ability to function as president. If he persists in going his own way to the end, the government has to be neutralized. (emphasis added)

Chosun Ilbo: N.Korean Propaganda Machine Judders Into Action

Articles praising North Korea’s Songun or military-first ideology have poured out on the homepages of pro-North Korean organizations like Solidarity for Unification, the National Alliance for Democracy and Reunification of Korea and the Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification since late July. “The Songun ideology is a historic moment in the emergence of our nation in a new shape in the 21st century, putting an end to the woes of a weak nation,” says one article. “But for North Korea’s great military strength, the U.S. would have invaded the North and caused war in our country,” says another. The articles are signed by dubious organizations such as “Group of Seoul Citizens Supporting the Songun Ideology” and “Co-representatives of A Group of College Students Supporting the Songun Ideology.”

[…]

At whose signal did they come out of the woodwork? The Songun propaganda outfits started moving after the Rodong Shinmun, the organ of the North Korean Workers Party, on July 29 said the Songun ideology “safeguards peace on the Korean Peninsula.

[…]

But neither the National Intelligence Service, nor the prosecution, nor the police are doing anything. Cheong Wa Dae, so keen to meddle with newspaper editorials and columns, is keeping mum. The police alone has belatedly said they are investigating whether this qualifies as “benefiting the enemy” under the National Security Law. The National Intelligence Service director, prosecutor general and police commissioner general should at least listen out for what is being said by these North Korean propaganda groups, here, right in the heart of South Korea.

Korea Times: Right Person in Right Place

The political turbulence engulfing the country during the last two weeks over the fate of Education Minister Kim Byong-joon began to subside Wednesday when he offered to resign. The political confusion over his resignation was touched off by the allegations of misconduct in scholarly works while serving as a professor. However, the root cause of the turbulence lies in the selection of a figure for a major cabinet post disregarding the people’s sentiment.

Putting the right person in the right position has long been said to be one of the most important tasks for those in power. In that sense, it is hard for President Roh Moo-hyun to avoid responsibility for having caused an unwarranted war of attrition in the political community. We wonder if there is a screening system in the presidential office to see if a proposed person would be acceptable for certain position or would function properly.

[…]

The latest development has left a damaging impression that President Roh puts more emphasis on his personal closeness than on the quality of better serving people in selecting those for major posts.

[…]

President Roh reportedly plans to select another close aide as the Justice Minister, a post now vacant. But, the opposition camp rebuffed the candidate as being incapable for the post. Now, the people’s interest is directed at whom President Roh chooses for the two cabinet posts. It is to be hoped that the president takes an important lesson from the freshly ended turbulence and selects people from among those who are friendly not to the president himself, but to the people.

Korea Herald: North Korea’s folly

Pyongyang turned down a recent offer from the South Korean Red Cross to send relief materials to victims of calamitous flooding in the North. It reportedly said it would use its own resources for the work.

Was it putting a bold face on one of the biggest natural disasters it has experienced in recent years? Or, was it displaying its ill feeling against South Korea, which refused to discuss its request for massive food aid after the July 5 test firing of missiles?

Either way, it was an ill-advised move to decline the offer of relief, given the famine that many of the flood victims may have to suffer in the months ahead. Why should Pyongyang reject the Red Cross relief materials when it cannot feed its own people? It should reverse its earlier decision and accept the aid offer with good grace before it is too late.

[…]

Again, North Korea was misguided when it rejected conditional aid from the World Food Program. As a condition for help, the U.N. organization wants to assess the damage and ensure the aid reaches flood victims. No sane country would reject such a minimal requirement and force many of the flood victims to go hungry.

[…]

Now, there is little likelihood that official aid will resume until the North again declares a moratorium on missile tests, returns to the six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program or takes any other action to mollify public anger.

A normal aid recipient would try to avoid antagonizing a potential donor, explain the difficulties it is faced with, and ask for the type of assistance needed to recover from them. But North Korea is refusing to take any of the normal courses of action.

Instead of attempting to soothe the angry South Koreans, it is further ruffling their feathers. For instance, it ordered a South Korean company to withdraw its workers from a construction site in the North, and fired shots at a South Korean guard post in the Demilitarized Zone.

All the action taken by the North Korean leadership is nothing but sheer folly. No one should be accused of having a wild imagination if he or she is wondering if the regime is digging its own grave by starving its people. (emphasis added)

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