Rearrangement of All Consular Offices

November 7, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Han Seung-Soo wrote a statement of public apology for the `foreign affairs embarrassment` of the Korean citizen executed in China and the inadequate protection of citizens resident in foreign nations. He promised to come up with a comprehensive policy of protecting Korean citizens living abroad in the next six months. Announcing his statement of apology, Mr. Han said, ``I apologize for failing to provide suitable measures for protecting citizens abroad and causing our people to worry. We will thoroughly investigate the causes of this incident so that it may never happen again, and will strictly reprimand those responsible.``

``We will place senior government staff abroad over consulate responsibilities and appoint a consul general in even small and medium-sized offices. We will form a comprehensive plan for improving consular operations in the next six months including organizing a special committee with former leading members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will provide foreign affairs expertise.`` said Mr. Han.

A high-ranking official in the ministry commented, ``Consul general and chief consular posts will be appointed in 62 medium and small-sized government stations abroad which do not have a consulate general. The consulate in Shenyang, China, which suffers from a severe lack of staff, will get 10 more personnel immediately and every effort will be made to change the office to a consulate general.``

The Ministry is, furthermore, considering △ providing individuals appointed as head of consular offices with strong incentives that will reflect their highest aspirations and which will prevent evasion of consular responsibilities, △ applying for personnel and funds from the government offices in charge, and △ granting head of government offices in foreign countries the right to summon head of consular affairs in order to strengthen operations.

Some, however, criticize the plans saying, ``The majority of employees in the ministry prefer government positions. If the ministry does not specifically provide exceptional benefits to the heads of consular affairs, the plan will prove ineffective.``

taylor55@donga.com