U.S. Never Conceded North Korea for Dispatching Forces by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

A rare scene was presented on October 14 when the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (FAT) and the U.S. Department of State rebutted the report of New York Times, an influential daily newspaper.

The subject report was an article from New York Times, dispatched under the title of “Intelligence Puzzled: North Korean Bombs.”

The New York Times revealed in this article that Yun Young-Kwan, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, had visited New York for the U.N. General assembly and during the talk with Colin Powell on September 25 had said, “President Roh would not consider dispatching its forces to Iraq unless U.S.’ administration concede on the matters of Security Treaty demanded by North Korea and a moderate economic support.” This enraged the atmosphere of the meeting and sources reported, citing Powell’s comment, “That is not an attitude toward an ally.”

The New York Times presented Powell’s comment even though it was a sensitive subject, especially for the South Korean press, who paid a great deal of attention to this article.

However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued an emergency report and denied the article tenaciously immediately after it was reported on the internet. Ui Seoung-rak, a director of North America explained, “Minister Yun said ‘Progress on North Korea’s nuclear issues would be helpful to deal with the issues of dispatching forces because an optimistic view on Korea’s peace and security is an important element for investigating the issue on dispatching forces.’ Times’ report was exaggerated and had simplified his comment.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade revealed that they are “planning to demand corrections on the article from the New York Times.”

Subsequently on October 14, afternoon (local time), the U.S. Department of State also denied the New York Times report. U.S. Department of State explained, “Neither the conference was enraging nor any words of anger were exchanged. Powell never spoke as cited by the newspaper and Yun’s comment was not described correctly either. It was a serious discussion between allies.”

Meanwhile, on a telephone call with our reporter on October 15, the New York Times responded, “The Washington branch, where the responsible report is engaged, will examine the genuineness of the article and response carefully.”

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