hankyoreh

staff photographer)

By Ahn Chang-hyun, staff reporter

On July 2, President Lee Myung-bak spoke for the first time on the Cabinet’s closed-door passage of a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan. His first comments came while presiding over a meeting of presidential secretaries. Though the delayed agreement with Japan has had the country in an uproar for the past week, Lee did not make even a token expression of regret, let alone an apology as the country’s leader.

Blue House spokesman Park Jung-ha quoted Lee as saying that the GSOMIA was “a nationally helpful form of agreement that we’ve already signed with 24 countries, including Russia, and that we need to sign with China in the future.”

Lee was also reported as expressing disapproval of the agreement’s handling. Park quoted him as saying, “This was not a matter that should have been presented before the Cabinet as an emergency item without already having sought out the opinions of the public.”

According to Park, Lee gave orders to disclose and explain the details of the agreement to the National Assembly and the public in order to avoid any misunderstandings. The remarks were the first from Lee since the Cabinet’s approval of the agreement on June 26 and his own return from a tour of Central and South America on June 27.

Critics accused him of “Monday morning quarterbacking” for making pointless remarks after the course and method of the agreement’s handling have already been decided following objections. Some also said he was trying to shift the blame by criticizing the working-level officials without making any gesture of responsibility as the nation’s leader.

Both the Blue House and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade hurried to defend Lee on Monday. Park said that while Lee had received a report prior to the Cabinet voting during his tour, he did not receive any of the specifics of the passage.

“He didn’t know about it,” Park said.

The explanation given was that the only report received by Lee came when senior secretary for foreign affairs and security Chun Young-woo contacted him during his travels in four South American countries between June 17 to 27. Chun told the president that both Korea and Japan would finish their Cabinet voting procedures for a signing on June 29.

Park was dismissive of politicians’ demands for action against those responsible. “There hasn’t been any discussion of that,” he said. “We’re not at the stage of talking about holding people accountable.”

Park also ducked questions about who was responsible, saying, “We don’t have enough information at this time.”

This means that despite Lee’s stern criticisms of the matter’s mishandling, there has been no determination of who did what wrong, or any plans to hold them accountable.

Lee‘s orders Monday were to renew the agreement push but seek the consent of the National Assembly beforehand. The authoritative position of the Ministry of Government Legislations is that the agreement requires no parliamentary ratification, and that the government could simply sign it now that the Cabinet has passed it.

But while strong objections from the opposition and public have led the government to take a step back and agree to try to win the National Assembly over first, no white flag has been raised. The government still maintains that signing the agreement would be in the national interest. “There has been no change in our position that this agreement is necessary at the current time,” Park said.

“The government plans to do its best to explain [the agreement] to the National Assembly, and then I presume there will be discussions there,” he added. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) Kim Sung-hwan also went to bat, calling a meeting with journalists Monday where he said the matter was “carried out based on the determination of the foreign ministry.”

Kim’s hurried response came after remarks the day before by a senior MOFAT official suggested culpability lay with the Blue House. “We did it because the Blue House said to,” the official was quoted as saying.

Kim went on to say, “It’s mortifying that the working-level passage was not handled smoothly. I admit that this was poorly done.”

But he dismissed any suggestion that he should resign his seat over the matter. “They [politicians] say they are examining it formally, so that decision will have to wait until after we see the results of their examination,” he said.

“What we need right now is to ask for the understanding and agreement of the public, and that’s what I plan to work on,” he added. “Let’s wait until after that to see my decision.”

Kim said that the secretive handling was a matter of diplomatic protocol. “In foreign relations, there’s a second party, and protocol dictates that everything remain undisclosed until procedures are over,” he said. “That’s what it was. We had no intention of disregarding the public.”

But none of the previous military intelligence pacts signed with other countries was subjected to a closed-door Cabinet vote.

Kim’s explanation for the insistence on passing the agreement at the June 26 meeting was that there was “an agreement with Japan that we’d like to have it done before the end of June.”

The Blue House avoiding any mention of what would happen if it failed to win over the National Assembly. Some officials there called for going straight into signature procedures after the parliamentary report.

“This agreement has already been deferred once despite the breach of diplomatic protocol,” a senior Blue House official. “We can’t pull out now.”

At the moment, the prevailing view in the Blue House seems to be in favor of waiting to see the drift of public opinion before reaching any conclusions.

When asked what would happen if the government did not succeed in convincing the National Assembly, Park replied, “I’m not going to answer a hypothetical.”

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