South Korea's Roh loses intelligence chief
Source: Reuters
By Jonathan Thatcher SEOUL, Oct 27 (Reuters) - South Korea's intelligence chief has become the latest member of President Roh Moo-hyun's foreign affairs and national security team to offer to quit in the wake of North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test. The resignations follow mounting criticism of Roh's engagement policy with North Korea for doing little to temper its nuclear weapons ambitions and reduce tension on the divided peninsula. Director of the National Intelligence Service Kim Seung-gyu offered his resignation to Roh on Thursday, presidential spokesman Yoon Tae-young said on Friday. South Korea's point man on the North, Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, and Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-ung tendered their resignations earlier in the week. A shake-up of some kind had been in the offing since Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was selected to become the next U.N. secretary-general. He is expected to leave in mid-November. But the three resignations this week, if accepted, will result in a near complete overhaul of the team responsible for relations with the North. Ban was talking to Chinese leaders in Beijing on Friday over how to implement U.N. sanctions imposed after the test and get the North back to talks on ending its nuclear programme. China and South Korea are the closest Pyongyang has to friends. Analysts doubted a reshuffle would mean much more than minor adjustment to the "sunshine" policy Roh inherited from his predecessor Kim Dae-jung, for which Kim won a Nobel Peace Prize. "There won't be a fundamental change to President Roh's policy of engagement with the North," said political analyst Yu Chang-sun. "Minister Lee Jong-seok has been the strongest advocate of the policy, so when he leaves there may be a slight change in the temperature. But when you look at the people who will likely replace him, it is difficult to anticipate a significant change. "The move is more about answering to criticism from the opposition and the media. There is an element of refreshing the field politically." The North Korean problem, along with an economic downturn in the South, has pushed Roh's approval ratings to near record lows. Asked if Roh was doing a good job as president, 69.8 percent of 800 people 19 years or older responded to a Oct. 12 telephone poll with either "not so good" or "very bad". REVIEWING ENGAGEMENT Roh has stuck with engagement during almost four years in office but agreed to review the policy after the North's test. Critics say it gives too much to the North and reduces rather than increases pressure on Pyongyang to reform. But its architect Kim Dae-jung has repeatedly blamed any policy failures on the United States, which abruptly changed its strategy with the administration of President George W. Bush. Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton was more in line with the South on engagement and even sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Jong-il. A telephone poll held on the day of the test showed that 51.7 percent of 700 people 20 years or older believed that Kim Jong-il was at fault for tension on the Korean peninsula, but Bush also rated high at 30.9 percent. Roh came in at 11 percent. Roh has scrupulously avoided raising hackles in the North. After Pyongyang tested ballistic missiles in July, he criticised neighbouring Japan for pushing so hard to sanction North Korea. Ties between the two Koreas have chilled rapidly since, however, with Seoul suspending food and industrial aid as punishment for the missile tests. On Thursday, South Korea said it would ban the entry of North Koreans who are involved in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme in the government's first step to implement U.N. sanctions. But Seoul shows no sign of suspending an industrial zone and a tourist resort it operates in the North, two enterprises that provide a rare connection to the outside world for Pyongyang. The Export-Import Bank of Korea said on Friday that South Korea's contribution to the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, which helps fund the two projects, doubled in 2005 from the year before to 415.6 billion won ($440 million). The United States has criticised the tourist project for being little more than a cash cow for the North's leadership. South Korean newspapers welcomed the expected reshuffle as an opportunity to rethink the engagement policy. "This will prove beneficial to Roh, who is required, though reluctantly, to make a fresh start with a new team," the Korea Herald said in an editorial. (Additional reporting by Jang Sera)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
