Cable: South Korea, U.S. met before Lee’s U.S. visit

Posted on : 2011-09-05 10:13 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
WikiLeaks document reveals two sides arranged for beef imports to resume before 2008 visit
 2008.
(Photo by Kim Jong-soo)
2008. (Photo by Kim Jong-soo)

By Kwon Tae-ho, Washington Correspondent

A document released by WikiLeaks on Sunday reveals that senior associates of President Lee Myung-bak met with the U.S. ambassador to South Korea in early 2008, during the period the presidential transition committee was operating, and pledged to open the South Korean market completely to U.S. beef imports ahead of a U.S. visit by Lee that April.

The revelation contradicts government claims that there was no link between the compromise on U.S. beef negotiations reached just before the South Korea-U.S. summit and Lee's visit to the United States.

According to a U.S. State Department diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, two members of Lee's presidential transition committee, current Korea Communications Commission chairman Choi See-joong and current Minister of Unification Hyun In-taek, discussed the issue of Lee's visit during a lunch meeting with then-U.S. ambassador Alexander Vershbow on Jan. 17, 2008.

During the meeting, Hyun told Vershbow that the most suitable time for Lee's visit would be April, just after the April 9 general election, and that the most ideal format would be a meeting with then-U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David. In response, Vershbow said it would be good if Lee visited the U.S. in April following the resumption of U.S. beef imports by South Korea.

Hyun said that Lee was well aware of the politically sensitive nature of the beef issue and that the South Korean market would be opened to U.S. beef ahead of Lee's visit, the cable reported. The exchange suggests that Lee's associates and the U.S. shared concerns about a possible outcry within South Korea in the event of a beef market opening after Lee's U.S. visit.

It also emerged that the U.S. was attentively watching the unfolding of BBK stock price manipulation allegations surrounding then-candidate Lee Myung-bak during the 2007 presidential election. In July 2007, while the race to select the Grand National Party candidate was in full swing, Vershbow sent a cable to Washington in which he reported Lee was facing a crisis with the BBK allegations and predicted a disastrous outcome if the situation could not be turned around.

The U.S. also expressed strong displeasure with Seoul's North Korea policy in the wake of a North Korean missile launch on July 5, 2006. Vershbow asked for the postponement of inter-Korean ministerial talks scheduled for July 11, while Christopher Hill, at the time the U.S.'s senior representative to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, placed pressure on Seoul to suspend the Mt. Kumkang tourism venture.

However, the ministerial talks went on as scheduled due to objections by then-Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, and the Mt. Kumkang tourism venture was also maintained.

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