Uri Party Divided Over Roh’s Trust

Controversy is developing around lawmaker Choi Jae-cheon, who revealed secret minutes from a National Security Council meeting and other inside information earlier this week.

Choi seems to be intent on attacking unification minister appointee Lee Jong-seok. Based on the revealed documents related to strategic flexibility, Choi pointed out the government’s confusion on foreign and security policy and virtually pressured appointee Lee to resign by saying, “Lee’s course of action should be decided by himself.” Some say that is why Choi disclosed the information in advance of Lee’s upcoming National Assembly hearings.

Why is Choi doing this? Ruling party insiders say that this is the result of a long-hidden conflict between the party’s hard-line and moderate self-reliance factions that has been going on since the early stages of the participatory government.

The hard-line self-reliance faction, led by Choi, claims that the current government said it would “say what it needed to be said to the U.S.,“ but that in reality, the government has been doing whatever the U.S. wants. In other words, negotiations on issues such as the strategic flexibility of U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK), USFK force reductions, the dispatch of the Zaytun unit to Iraq, and a free trade agreement between Korea and U.S. all ended with the acceptance of American demands.

In their view, the main reason why the current government’s policy toward the U.S. has “degenerated” has a great deal to do with Lee himself, who is considered moderate. The hard-liners argue that Lee has monopolized the ears and eyes of President Roh and has influenced his stance on Korea’s security and foreign policy.

The ruling camp thinks that the hard-liners include members of the 386-generation inside Cheong Wa Dae, officials of the Office of Information and Policy Monitoring and Presidential Civil Affairs Secretariat, and National Security Council (NSC) insiders unhappy with Lee. It is possible that those who leaked the confidential Cheong Wa Dae documents to Choi are Cheong Wa Dae insiders.

The Cheong Wa Dae Office of Information and Policy Monitoring investigated Lee last April when he was NSC secretary general twice in the form of hearings. It is also reported that the Presidential Civil Affairs Secretariat also held a separate investigation of Lee.

Lee, who emphasizes pragmatism, national interests, and “saying what has to be said to the U.S.” can be considered the leader of the party’s moderate self-reliance faction. Lee has been criticized by hard-liners as “phony,” and by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) officials as “ignoring the ROK-US alliance and only giving priority to self-reliance,” however. A senior MOFAT official said, “Lee, who is trying to catch the two rabbits of national interests and self-reliance, will easily earn the disapproval from both sides who will criticize him for belonging to the other.”

Nevertheless, Lee has the power to decide and implement foreign and security policy because he enjoys the confidence of President Roh.

On February 3, Cheong Wa Dae announced, “The president was concerned about the initial stages of the strategic flexibility issue, and the final document was personally reviewed by the president,” officially rejecting Choi’s claim that the report on strategic flexibility was not given to President Roh.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kim Man-soo said, “This clarification from Cheong Wa Dae was ordered by President Roh’s.” Hence, it can be viewed that the hard-liners’ attempt to discredit Lee, set in motion with Choi’s disclosures, is being directly blocked by Roh.

But some ruling party members are saying that this issue was caused by Choi’s Don Quixote-like character, rather than an ideological dispute. Right after a morning meeting with Lee and Uri Party members of the committee on Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lawmaker Lee Hwa-young said, “Choi’s arguments seemed to be mistaken. The members who attended the meeting with Lee agreed with most of his explanations.”

Whatever the cause of this issue, it is clear that a power struggle within the ruling camp for the trust of President Roh is taking place. A ruling camp official said, “How do those who have stayed with President Roh through good times and bad feel when they see Lee monopolizing all of Roh’s trust? Political infighting might be the party’s next problem.”

Jei-Gyoon Park phark@donga.com taewon_ha@donga.com