[Editorial] Korea-US Relations Should Be Put on Right Track

When a problem occurs between Korea and the US, allied nations, policy makers in both countries should convene in order to grasp the situation and come up with countermeasures. They should deal with issues involving US soldiers who are stationed in Korea for both Korea and the US’s sake in the same way. Though the US-Korean relation seems to go awry due to the acquittals of two US soldiers, whose armored vehicle ran over and killed two Korean teenage girls, both sides can find an answer in this way.

From that point of view, the US attitude last weekend was very disappointing. The US representatives of the House International Relations Committee, who were supposed to visit Seoul, canceled that plan just the day before the scheduled visit in a hurry. Though the US Embassy in Seoul explained that they postponed their visit because they did not want to get attentions from those who were waging anti-US protests in Korea, such an explanation was not a right choice.

They should have visited Korea and felt the anger in person which was spreading through Koreans like wildfire. Then they should have realized what was wrong and what was the problem. Just the slogans students and citizens shouted on the evenings on Saturday and Sunday in many areas across the nation including the Gwanghwamun area in central Seoul were enough for them to feel the anger of Koreans.

This newspaper evaluated the significance of US President George W. Bush’s indirect apology in an editorial, because we expected change in the US attitudes. However, the US side did not even mention the "improvement of SOFA" and of course showed opposition to revision of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) at the annual ROK-US Consultative Security Meeting, disappointing Koreans once again.

Though it is somewhat late, South Korean senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Defense and US senior officials from the US Embassy in Seoul and the 8th US Army are reported to have talks in order to discuss the mounting anti-American sentiment. Deputy secretary of State Richard Armitage is also scheduled to visit Korea. At this time the US should show its willingness not to look away from the Koreans’ anger, which was caused by it, in a concrete way.

For its part, the Korean government should keep in mind what the public is saying. People are rushing to the streets to commemorate the deceased girls, demanding for correction of the unfair relations between the US and Korea, which is proof that they do not trust the government any more. Whether or not the anti-American sentiment spreads depends on the two governments’ responses.