[Editorial] Roh’s Response

Yesterday, North Korea finally fired seven missiles, including Taepodong 2, marking the outbreak of a “missile crisis.”

This situation shows that there is a serious problem in the government’s policy on North Korea and the crisis management system. When North Korea showed signs of firing a missile, the current government showed easy responsiveness, which was quite different from the U.S. and Japan. The government officials showed no signs of being urgent by saying, “We are not sure if it is a missile or not. It might be a satellite. Even though it is a missile, it might not be aimed at South Korea since North Korea has long-range guided projectiles.”

When North Korea fired the missiles, the government officials said, “We started to realize this from the beginning of this week.” This remark made by the government reminds one of the famous American saying, “People seem to say that their eyesight is 2.0 after the outbreak of an accident.” Now many wonder what stopped the government to respond quickly to prevent or at least minimize the troublesome situation when they knew that North Korea was going to fire a missile. In the case of the Japanese government, it issued an emergency advisory and reported the case to Junichiro Koizumi at 3:52 a.m., just 20 minutes after the firing. After that, at 6:20 a.m., Abe Shinjo, Japan`s Chief Cabinet Secretary, had a press conference and explained the situation to the public.

On the other hand, South Koreans were able to know that North Korea has fired a missile after watching reports from overseas including NHK, a Japanese broadcast company. The case was reported to President Roh at about 5:00 a.m. and the government announced it to the public at 10:10 a.m. The belated announcement not even seemed to be hard enough by mentioning the situation as “seriously disappointing” when compared with the announcement made by the U.S. and Japan, saying, “We will respond in a quick and decisive way.” The Japanese prime minister held a security meeting at about 7:30 a.m. but President Roh held a cabinet level security meeting at 11:00 a.m.

The government has no way but to depend on the U.S. to gather information about the missiles in North Korea. However, the government was not able to get any information since it could not manage to remain in good terms with the U.S. This leaves a bitter taste in the mouth because the government has so far called itself the “balancer of Northeast Asia,” shouting “self defense” and claimed “early redemption of wartime operations.” On top of that, the president has not hesitated to make hostile remarks against Japan and has aggravated the relationships with Japan. Many wonder how the Korean government will recover the relationships with the U.S. and Japan and respond to the threat of North Korea. It seems that it will be impossible to depend on China.

The government has poured tons of money into North Korea, dubbing it as money for “reunification” and “nation cooperation.” It is known that the current administration has spent billions of won of taxpayers’ hard earned money to give rice and fertilizer to North Korea. The government promised to give away 350,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea and has kept the promise while the missile crisis was going on. The president said, “We will take a conciliatory attitude for North Korea in terms of materials and institutions” However, North Korea responded by a backlash to South Korea after all that support they have received. Now, it is time for the South Korean government to think again about supporting North Korea.

Some experts from home and abroad estimate that North Korea has already made five-10 nuclear bombs with the plutonium it has extracted. Also, North Korea ranks in sixth place in terms of developing missiles. The current administration should make a choice between just watching what goes on next or change its mind. If North Korea manages to get more nuclear and missiles, the situation will spiral out of control.

Also, the advocates of “all of the Koreans together” should think again about this urgent situation. While people from two Korea visited Seoul and Pyongyang, holding a reunification festival on June 15 and insisting on independence and anti-Americanism, North Korea answered by firing a missile. The pro-Kim Jong Il forces will have no room to makes excuses.

The president of Korea should clear his stance. It is difficult to understand why he is remaining in silence about the missiles. The government officials have said, “If the president starts to speak something about North Korea, the situation will become worse.” This remark only seems to be an excuse now. After all, it seems that President Roh is not an expert in knowing the difference between the matters he should meddle in or not. But it is time Roh takes an active part in solving the missile problem and shows a decisive stance.