hankyoreh

Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office listens to pro tests from Democratic United Party lawmakers

The government has decided to hold off on signing a military intelligence protection agreement with Japan. This decision comes late, but is obviously the right move for an agreement that was passed improperly by the Cabinet without public discussion or ratification in the National Assembly. And the agreement involves Japan, of all countries, Korea’s former colonial occupier.

Apparently, the Lee Myung-bak government plans to explain the situation to the National Assembly before going ahead with the procedures. But given that it’s already evident how dangerous the agreement would be and how the people feel about it, we would be better off just scrapping the whole thing.

Questions about the agreement just keep coming: whether we need it, how it’s been pushed, and what will come of it. By all appearances, the scientific intelligence Japan has been getting isn’t much to hanker for. Moreover, we can get intelligence in real time through our alliance with the US. In terms of benefits and losses, more North Korean military intelligence is likely to go to Tokyo than come from it. In reality, no other country gets as much North Korean intelligence as we do. The government must have some other reason for the lame excuses it has been giving.

The agreement would underpin a military alliance with Japan and the building of a missile defense system with the US. Both Washington and Tokyo have been after these policies for a long time as a way of defending themselves from the North Korean and Chinese militaries. The problem is that while South Korea provides the optimal forward base for this, it has been adamantly opposed to any military agreement with Japan.

To us, Japan isn’t just a neighbor. From ancient until contemporary times, it has had ambitions of controlling the Korean Peninsula. First came the pillaging of countless raiders and the invasions of 1592 to 1598. Then, in 1910, Japan annexed the peninsula outright, and proceeded to plunder and violate it. Yet, far from showing any kind of sincere repentance or apology for this, it has continued to stir up territorial strife and distort history. In terms of invasions, it has been no different from North Korea triggering the Korean War. Now, its sights are set on nuclear weapons. Yet in spite of all this, the Japanese government has been beating the drum for a military agreement with South Korea. A trilateral military alliance and MD system may be the best option for their interests, but from our position, it means putting up with military frictions with China, which holds our very economic life in its hands.

People need to be held responsible for this reckless pursuit of a dangerous agreement. The Ministry of National Defense is said to have been unenthusiastic about the actual agreement, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was reportedly opposed to the hasty passage, so all eyes are now turning to President Lee Myung-bak and the Blue House. However blindly loyal they may be to Washington, what they did was something that would endanger our security and interests, and they must be held to account. And even if there were orders from the Blue House, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik cannot be freed of responsibility for improperly passing an agreement that affects our national security, without any regard for the country’s people or parliament.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]