Ex-Official Blasts Defense Policies

Former Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs Kim Jong-whi, who took active part in shaping President Roh Tae-woo’s foreign and defense policy, said yesterday, “President Roh Moo-hyun’s statement, that Korea is ready to carry out wartime operational control of the military, is either a miscalculation or a refusal to accept the truth”.

Former Presidential Secretary Kim, who led the initiative in the signing of the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement and the non-proliferation statement in 1992 and planned the Roh Tae-woo administration’s policy towards North Korea, pointed out, “The president is in charge of the foreign and defense policy and there are major flaws in President Roh Moo-hyun’s perspective towards the North and the Korean-U.S. alliance.”

He said, “I cannot understand why President Roh thinks our sovereignty is damaged by having two command systems, which were introduced to ensure adequate and effective deterrent against North Korea’s potential attacks.

President Roh’s grave misunderstanding-

Former Presidential Secretary Kim said that President Roh’s misunderstanding of the Korea-U.S. mutual defense system and South Korea’s unilateral policy and recognition on North Korea led to the current security risks and a weakened alliance with the U.S.

He said, “President Roh alleges that there are no weaknesses in the alliance, but no one believes him. How can there be no problems, when there is an unbridgeable gap between Korea and the U.S.’s understanding and assessment of the North Korea problem and its missile threat? Our strategy and tactics are totally different.”

He said, “We do not have a seamless exchange of information with the U.S. That is a problem for a country that looks to the U.S. for military information. Some are even saying that the U.S. and Japan are shunning supplying Korea with information, afraid that it would leak to the North.”

He said that Korea’s view and policy towards North Korea should be put under the knife. He said, “The key to the U.S.’s North Korea policy is ‘Don’t reward bad behavior.’ Unfortunately, Korea’s North Korea policy does not take the bad behavior into account.”

“Not a matter of sovereignty, but efficiency”-

Former Presidential Secretary Kim also criticized President Roh’s statement, that the redemption of the wartime operational control of the military is a necessity for an independent national defense and the achievement of a sovereign country. He said the reasoning behind this statement collides with the Korean-U.S. mutual cooperation.

Regaining wartime operational control should not be viewed as a way to gain independence. It should be viewed as a way to attain more efficiency and lower military costs. I do not understand why we are trying to discard the most effective way to deterrence and defense.”

Former Presidential Secretary Kim said, “The aim of North Korea is to have the U.S. withdraw from Korea and leave the alliance in tatters. Yet President Roh’s recent remarks sound as if he wants to grant North Korea the favor.”

He said that the most realistic threat to Korea is the North. He criticized that while our only option is to strengthen our cooperation with countries that oppose North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the current administration looks to be going the opposite way.

He also remarked, “During the Sixth Republic under former President Roh Tae-woo, when we initiated diplomatic relations with Soviet Union, the conditions were that the Soviet Union should not offer military aid or transfer technology related to missiles and weapons of mass destruction to the North. The current administration must look back on whether the appeasement and cooperation approach helped to relax tension and lead to peace in the peninsula.”

taewon_ha@donga.com