Lawmakers criticize government for low-key diplomatic stance

Both ruling and opposition lawmakers of the National Assembly Unification, Foreign Affairs, and Trade Committee blasted the government Friday for its weak-kneed diplomatic posture, pointing out problems with its refusal to allow Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit Seoul, the Korea-U.S. talks on the SOFA revision, the Japanese government's distorted revision of history textbooks and Seoul-Washington missile talks.

Rep. Kim Seong-Ho of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party asserted that the people could not understand the government's refusal to permit the Dalai Lama's entry to Korea, which supported the Chinese government's policy. He noted that Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Lee Joung-Binn expressed his intention in June to permit the Dalai Lama's visit within the year following the ASEM conference in Seoul, but changed his mind in less than four months.

Rep. Kim Yong-Kap of the opposition Grand National Party took issue with the idea that nation's diplomatic realities could not allow it to invite the religious leader due to the pressure of the Chinese government, asking why the government is so submissive to Beijing.

The legislators of the opposition GNP, in particular, assailed the government for its weak diplomatic posture toward the U.S.

Rep. Suh Chung-Won of the GNP noted that at the second round of the SOFA revision talks held at the Pentagon last month, the American side concurred on Korea's criminal jurisdiction over U.S. military suspects but refused to include an environmental clause in the proposed SOFA revision pact. He called on the government to formulate an independent posture.

Rep. Kim Deog-Ryong of the GNP claimed that the bilateral missile agreement that stipulates Korea will be allowed to test-fire missiles with a range of 300 km up to 10 times and additional tests should be controlled by Washington amounts to a U. S. infringement on the nation's sovereignty.

Rep. Lee Nak-Yon of the MDP concentrated his criticism on distorted Japanese history textbooks. Although President Kim Dae-Jung enunciated a policy to bury the colonial past during his visit to Japan in 1998, Japan is attempting to ordain a new school textbook distorting history, Lee said. He expressed skepticism with the diplomatic rhetoric claiming Seoul-Tokyo relations have reached their highest level since the nation¡¯s liberation from Japan in 1945.

Rep. Moon Hee-Sang of the MDP stressed that the nation's diplomacy should be based on the utilization of the United States, Japan, Russia and China in order to promote practical national interests in the international community where mutual agreements prevail.

Minister Lee, meanwhile, answered that the Korean visit by the Dalai Lama is a matter of timing, stating that his trip has been reserved and that his coming next year is in the best interests of the nation.