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Seoul's new envoy may not please
US
By Jaewoo Choo
SEOUL -
After weeks of hard thinking over what he perceived as
"insulting" remarks by officials in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade, South Korean President Roh
Moo-hyun accepted the resignation of foreign minister
Yoon Young-kwan. And late Friday he replaced him with
his recent foreign-affairs adviser, Ban Ki-moon,
something of a mystery diplomat who over many years has
seldom expressed his own views.
Some see Ban, a
Western-oriented career diplomat, as friendly to the
United States and his appointment a sign of improving
relations after Roh's pursuit of relative independence
from Washington. Others, however, see him as a polished
and pragmatic messenger boy who initially may put
Washington at ease while actually promoting his
president's desire for a more Korea-centered policy and
reluctance to satisfy Washington's every whim and
diktat.
After a major internal debate,
South Korea decided not to satisfy the US request for
5,000-10,000 combat troops in Iraq. Instead, Seoul has
deployed only 3,000 combat and non-combat forces - and
this after heated debate about how far to follow
Washington's lead in an unpopular and dangerous war and
occupation. The new foreign minister is considered
unlikely to put troops in harm's way.
From
within the Foreign Ministry had come some criticism of
Roh's distancing from the United States - politically
popular with many voters. Some close to Roh in the
ministry's rival, the National Security Council, were
reportedly dubbed "the Taliban". It got worse, and the
foreign minister had to accept the blame for not
disciplining his outspoken subordinates.
The
sacking/resignation and new appointment generated
controversy and two differing reactions. Some viewed it
as Roh's wise determination to repair the apparently
drifting Seoul-Washington relationship by installing a
more experienced minister with a long background as a
career diplomat. Others saw it as only a tactical move
intended to enhance Roh's ambition in pursuing a more
independent diplomacy.
At least on the surface,
the move would appear to endorse the argument for
remedying Korea-US ties. The underlying story, however,
tells more about Roh's pursuit of independence from
Washington.
Some diplomats criticize
distancing from US
The day before Yoon submitted
his resignation, Roh delivered his New Year's address,
clearing indicating his disapproval of unflattering
comments about his policies that were relayed to US
officials and leaked to the media. A controversial
investigation was launched into the behavior of Foreign
Ministry officials who were alleged to have expressed
their dissatisfaction with Roh and his government's
policy to the US side.
Roh expressed his
displeasure: "There were informational leaks intended to
change presidential policy. There were also leaks
intended to influence policy details after larger policy
had been decided." The president acknowledged that there
were differences of opinion and misunderstanding among
these officials concerning South Korea's US policy. He
emphasized his early warnings to the Foreign Ministry
dissenters, saying, "We requested they follow [policy]
after cautioning them on several occasions, and it got
to the point where some among them immediately objected
and began to speak in insulting language."
From
such a standpoint, Roh - a strong advocate of a policy
diverging from that of the United States during his
presidential campaign in late 2002 - seems to be taking
action to stabilize the critical bilateral relationship
said by some to be in its most dangerous phase in its
half-century history.
Against this backdrop, Roh
hand-picked as his new foreign minister Ban, a diplomat
with 34 years of experience. Roh's spokesman called Ban
his nation's "savviest" civil servant when it comes to
the United States, US foreign policy, and US diplomats
and foreign-policy makers. Roh's choice of his new
minister also drew something very rare these days from
Washington: a positive remark about South Korea.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told
a news conference on Friday that Ban is "well known [in
the US] and liked here, so we look forward to working
with him, and the secretary called him this morning and
made that clear ... Ban Ki-moon is one of the Republic
of Korea's most experienced diplomats and prominent
civil servants." The next day, US Secretary of State
Colin Powell seemed pleased with Roh's choice, and
Boucher reported that the two officials already had
discussed ways to enhance the two countries' alliance
beyond its current status.
Well aware of the
reasons for his appointment, Ban told a news conference
after his appointment that he values the alliance with
the US and is ready to pursue what he called "balanced
pragmatic" diplomacy in handling South Korea's current
foreign-policy agenda.
Appointment may
promote independence
Ban's appointment, despite
all the rhetoric of good feelings, may well be an effort
to promote the independent policy that has so distressed
Washington and Roh's critics at home.
The stated
reasons for the Ban appointment are his expertise in the
business of government and diplomacy in which he
maintains harmonious personal relations. According to
Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House, South Korea's presidential
residence) senior secretary for civil affairs Chung
Chan-yong, "We believe he will play a good role as
minister for Foreign Ministry employees who are feeling
tense, and he understands the foreign policy, position
and philosophy of President Roh Moo-hyun."
In
other words, what Roh sees in his new minister is the
ability and capacity to carry out his foreign-policy
vision, known as "independent" diplomacy, the main cause
of all the turbulence in the ministry. Although in his
remarks to ministry staff and to the press Ban
successfully avoided use of the term "independence", as
long as Roh does not publicly renounce his pursuit of
such diplomatic independence, it will remain the top
goal of his foreign-policy agenda, especially in view of
the pending National Assembly election in April.
Roh's ambition for "independent" diplomacy will
continue as long as the National Security Council has
the upper hand over the Foreign Ministry in formulating
South Korea's foreign policy. In spite of Ban's
declaration that there won't be any friction between the
two institutions as long as he is around, this can be
read, at best, as the rhetoric of domestic diplomacy.
Not too many people will bet on Ban's words,
mainly for two reasons.
First, Roh does not seem
to have a vision for his foreign policy, since in his
New Year's address he did not articulate specifics of
his government's position and policy on its the current
agenda. This includes the North Korean nuclear issue,
Japanese claims of sovereignty over Dokdo (also known as
Senkaku Island), Chinese efforts to persuade the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) to recognize the Goguryeo tomb as
an international cultural site (see Northeast Asia's intra-mural mural
wars, December 23, 2003), US troop deployment, and
dispatch of South Korean troops to Iraq.
Instead, President Roh used the occasion simply
to express his deep concern about those who "insulted"
his government's foreign policy. Thus, with the man he
trusts in the top position at the ministry, the career
diplomats will be carrying out, not shaping, policy. Ban
will coordinate between Roh's National Security Council
and the Foreign Ministry, which will merely receive
instructions from the NSC.
Second, Ban's
splendid and successful career speaks for itself as to
his future role as a minister. Since joining South
Korea's foreign service in the 1970s, Ban has enjoyed
far more success than anyone of his rank, despite
changes in his nation's leadership. He survived leaders
who relied heavily on regional factions, or regionalism,
which ordained virtually all personnel decisions. Not
one of the successive presidents, in other words, was
from Ban's home region. On the contrary, it may have
worked to his advantage because it allowed him to
concentrate as a professional on his work, rather than
taking sides with any faction.
However, it is
difficult to know Ban's own vision and stance on Korean
diplomacy since he became a prominent figure on the
diplomatic scene in the early 1990s. While serving in a
succession of important posts to which he was appointed
by former presidents Kim Yong-sam and Kim Dae-jung and
the current President Roh, Ban rarely expressed his
views and thinking on agendas and challenges confronting
South Korea. He acted as if he were merely a messenger
of these presidents and their counterpart leaders in the
US and Japan. This was evident in his work as a
representative to the Trilateral Coordination and
Oversight Group and to the UN, and in his appointment as
vice minister and senior secretary for national security
and foreign affairs. In all these positions, he was
particularly adept in reiterating his presidents' views
and policies when relaying their messages at discussion
tables.
So, on one level, Western governments
may find Ban relatively easy to work with.
Ban's
major handicap at this critical juncture in carrying out
a "balanced pragmatic" diplomacy, as he proclaimed, is
his relative lack of deep understanding of Korea's
powerful neighbors, China, Russia and Japan. He visited
China for the first time last July when he accompanied
Roh. When asked by the Korean press about his relative
lack of experience in certain areas, Ban explained that
the positions he has held throughout his career limited
his work and visits largely to the US and Western
nations. Since Roh has not visited Russia, by the same
logic, neither has Ban. He may not necessarily have to
understand all the affairs of these nations, but he
understands the affairs of the Blue House, and he will
continue to fulfill his president's orders, as he has in
the past.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co,
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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