Possible Change in Korean Policy Towards U.S. and North

Leading foreign news organizations reported the result of the 17th Korean general election as main news on April 15. In particular, they were interested in what leadership President Roh Moo-hyun will show in the future. They also predicted that the Korean Government Party, which is progressive, will likely maintain the basis of foreign policies concerning North Korea’s nuclear crisis and the dispatch of forces to Iraq even though the basis of its foreign policy platform is an independent policy towards the U.S.

--Message Against Impeachment

The New York Times reported on April 16 that “the election delivered an obvious message to dismiss the impeachment motion.” The AP, AFP and Reuters analyzed the result as “President Roh’s political victory.” Le Figaro said, “President Roh, who has a will to reform, got his second chance.”

The Asahi Shimbun predicted that “the reform of the present Administration will gain elastic power from now on.” The Yomiuri Shimbum, however, mentioned, “It is unclear if the political situation will be stable under the Government Party’s leadership since the main opposition party has consolidated its basis again.”

The New York Times said, “The indignation over the impeachment overwhelmed other pending problems such as unemployment, the dispatch of forces to Iraq, and the North Korea nuclear crisis.” Arabic satellite TV, Al-Jazeera reported, “Impeachment was the only main issue in the election.”

Advance of Progressive Power

The Washington Post analyzed, “Korean voters moved to the Left in forty years.” AP and Reuters reported, “The National Assembly, that had been ruled by conservatives for forty years, was broken. This is a turning point in Korean politics.”

German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine estimated that “the change in Korean politics has been started now that a party of reform won most of the seats in the election for the first time.”

However, Professor Victor Cha at Georgetown University said, “It is not correct to regard this election as a move to the Left.” A researcher from the Korea Enterprise Institute also said, “The Uri Party has more of a gap with the Democratic Labor Party than with the Grand National Party in terms of its policies. It is a moderate progressive party.”

French Le Monde and Russian ITAR-TASS noted female politicians’ remarkable success as a distinctive feature in this election.

--Future Foreign Relations

An U.S. expert on North Korea predicted that, “the election is likely to positively affect the Korea-U.S. relationship and the North Korea nuclear crisis. The Korean government will not cancel the additional dispatch of forces to Iraq.” A Japanese official said, “The result of the election will not have a great effect on the Korea-Japan relationship and the policy toward North Korea.

An U.S. official said, “Korea will have more confidence to say “no” to the U.S.” The China Daily and German news organizations mentioned, “There will be more independence from the U.S. and reconciliation with North Korea.”

In Japan, there was a concern over a possible subtle shifting of the political situation if Korea uses more of an appeasement policy towards North Korea.