Unilateralism Update

Well, this doesn’t sound very diplomatic, does it?

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on a visit to China Thursday that recent statements from U.S. administration figures concerning the collapse or modification of the North Korean regime diverged greatly from the position held by Seoul.

During a discussion with reporters in Shanghai on Thursday, Chung explained that in the future, South Korea would deal with the North Korean nuclear issue in accordance with its own needs rather than American ideas.

. . . especially when said in Shanghai. Funny, did anyone else get the idea that the Roh government’s position on North Korea was ever in accordance with American ideas? It’s hard to understand the motivation behind such language, except as a flash of emotion, or as a calculated stoking of anti-Americanism for Chung’s own political purposes. But it certainly won’t win him friends here, and it won’t move U.S. policy his way.