[Editorial] Hate Killed the Cat

The dignity of our government was already hurt in the Yellow Sea Engagement. It is hurt again in the foreign affairs. Officials in charge of foreign affairs, like Lim Sung-Jun, the chief foreign affairs advisor, had confidently asserted that the Yellow Sea Engagement would not end in cancellation of the US plan to send a special envoy. But the result was totally against their hope. On July 2, 2002, the US Department of State officially announced the plan cancelled, highlighting the difference in each country’s position.

In just one day, the government officials, with their premature, inaccurate judgment, left scars on our nation’s trustworthiness dignity. This glitch is serious and should not be overlooked. We could hardly understand on what grounds the chief advisor made that imprudent prediction. We do not know what were his intentions. Was it for downsizing the significance of the armed conflict? Or purely due to lack of his ability? In any respect, it poses a grave problem to us.

During the summit, the government may have persuaded Japan into believing in the necessity for calmed-down responses. But the US differs a lot. The Bush administration has already analyzed the situation in full. In such circumstances, it was indiscreet to expect them to agree with our position. Our government’s ignorance of the seriousness of the situation and haste in handling eventually led to a silly mistake of breaching the valuable cooperation between two countries.

The Kim administration is talking in a voice absolutely different from that of US. Now, how could we believe the government’s claim that US and Korea are in full cooperation to relieve the tension on the Korean Peninsula? Our government did not or could not (we do not know which) comprehend the situation. The Bush administration has stuck to their hard-line policies, despite the criticism of unilateralism on them, against what they call rouge countries, including the North Korea. In short, it is fair to say the government’s incompetence called for trouble.

This way, we will lose all. The government should know that persuading the US into talks with the North does get us anywhere. Should be more focused on are full comprehension of North’s motives behind the armed provocation and responses based thereon. In addition, the officials, who are at the center of this debacle, should be held accountable for their hasty, imprudent judgment.