hankyoreh

By Ahn Chang-hyun, Blue House correspondent
The Blue House announced on July 6 that the hasty handling of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan was a “mistake” committed by both senior presidential secretary for national security Kim Tae-hyo and a working-level director at the Foreign Ministry. Accordingly, the Blue House has already accepted Kim’s resignation, and the Foreign Ministry has decided to replace Northeast Asian Affairs bureau director Cho Se-young.
Blue House spokesperson Park Jeong-ha said the senior presidential secretary for national security’s office and Foreign Ministry met many times and decided to place the agreement before the Cabinet as an impromptu item without first holding a vice-ministerial meeting. They also decided to reveal the content of the agreement on the day of the signing, which was scheduled for June 29. This was in accordance with a working-level decision made between Korea and Japan to finish the deal in June and keep it under wraps until it was signed. The Japanese response to the draft arrived on June 21, and the Ministry of Government Legislation screening results came back the next day, so they could not place the agreement before the vice-ministerial meeting held on the 21st of the same month.
Park added that those involved lacked political judgment in failing to achieve procedural transparency, win the understanding of the public and convince the National Assembly, taking into consideration the special character of the Korea-Japan relationship. The office of the senior presidential secretary for political affairs had since July 2 been investigating how the GSOMIA was handled.
The Blue House’s announcement Friday essentially said the entire incident was the work of Kim and Cho. Accordingly, it also said there were issues in reporting. Park said Cho did not report in detail to the vice minister that the agreement would be placed before the cabinet as an impromptu item. The senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security did not receive a proper report, either.
The Defense Ministry, however, never collected opinions through hearings or such in close to a year and a half of steady preparation since the Korea-Japan defense ministers’ talks of January 2011, and the government never properly explained anything to the National Assembly. Moreover, despite Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan being involved in the entire process, the Blue House limited its investigation to how the agreement was placed before the Cabinet on June 26 and took personnel measures accordingly. Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Ho-young, who at the least should take responsibility for his management failures, was not punished, and Cho‘s replacement is of a rather low level-he is being sent back to headquarters rather than being unassigned.
The opposition immediately objected that the government was simply trying to cut the tail off the incident. Democratic United Party (DUP) Supreme Council member Kim Han-gil said in a council meeting he was dumbfounded by the government’s evasive attempts to bandage this thing with the resignation of a Blue House aide. He said he hoped President Lee Myung-bak quickly apologizes and the prime minister is sacked. The DUP plans to hold Saturday a rally to demand the immediate abandonment of the agreement with Japan and to condemn the government for covertly railroading it.
　
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