[Opinion] Crawford Ranch

In France, even churches are closed when the summer vacation season comes. Priests as well as most churchgoers have a month-long vacation. Then, Koreans find it easy to lend the church places to have their worship sessions. The vacation season in France serves as the great time of worship for Koreans. There are even such terms as `July vacationers` and `August vacationers,` which refer to those having vacation in July and August respectively. When Hyundai Motor introduces the five-day workweek system, the company will become one of the most generous businesses in the world that gives a large number of holidays to its employees. Then, we might even see the French practice of shutting down churches during summer vacation season.

When it comes to having a long summer vacation, George W. Bush is as happy as any man in the world. He is now having a month-long vacation in his private ranch in Crawford, Texas. It is hard for Koreans accustomed to only a week-long vacation to imagine how it would be like. President Roh, who just returned from his four-day summer vacation, is no exception. Before leaving for the ranch, Bush was reported to have excellent health from his doctors. He has been having the long summer vacation for three years, despite concern and criticism.

But for Koreans, there is something more about Bush`s month-long vacation than the duration. Bush is having a so-called working vacation and his agenda includes North Korean nuclear program. He called in Secretary of State Collin Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage two days ago to discuss North Korean nuclear issue. He will soon meet with his war policy chief Donald Rumsfeld. Bush is also set to discuss redeployment of U.S. troops overseas, which will also affect the developments in the Korean Peninsula.

Bush is using the sprawling ranch that extends through 1,600 acre in various ways. He invites his buddies like Tony Blair and Koizumi Junichiro to have straightforward talks with them. If President Roh is ever invited to the ranch, it will mean that the relationship between the two countries becomes very close. For now, we cannot but wait for that to happen. But, the North Korean issue currently discussed at the ranch is not something that we can just wait. We need to find out what is going on and take due actions.