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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Seoul to Continue NK Aid |
| 2005-03-14 |
| South Korea is to make up its own mind about providing aid to North Korea as the communist country is considered a brother while Washington is an ally, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said at a meeting of ministry officials on Monday. Chung, who concurrently chairs the standing committee of the National Security Council, was reacting to U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde's remarks last week on the Korean Peninsula, spokesman Kim Hong-jae said at a press briefing. On March 10, the International Relations Committee chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives criticized South Korea for scrapping ``main enemy'' from the national defense white paper this year, saying that Seoul should make clear who is its friend and who is its enemy. The Defense Ministry deleted ``main enemy'' in the new version of the white paper released last month to maintain peaceful relations with North Korea. ``South Koreans basically think of North Korea as our brother and the U.S. as our ally,'' Chung was quoted by Kim as saying. ``No other country specifies its enemy in their white paper. Looking at Korean Peninsula affairs in black and white is not helpful in finding a peaceful solution.'' It is rare for a minister to make public what has been discussed in a meeting attended by high-ranking ministry officials, especially when it is related to diplomacy. Chung said Hyde was apparently not fully aware of the 1953 South Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Agreement, which did not specify the enemy and limits the boundary of military operations to the Pacific region. ``(Hyde's) remarks that we first have to clarify who our enemy is so that we can get help from the U.S. might have come as a result of a failure in understanding the aim and spirit of the agreement,'' Chung said. ``To help our ally's war against terrorism we even dispatched the world's third-largest military contingent to Iraq, which is far from the Pacific region.'' Upon Hyde's request for Seoul to reconsider its humanitarian aid programs for North Korea, Chung said he thinks the U.S. congressman's unilateral demand is not appropriate and Seoul cannot accept it. ``We will make our own decision after considering various circumstances,'' Chung said. ``Humanitarian aid to the North is helpful in easing North Koreans' pain and contributing to peace on the Korean Peninsula in the long term.'' A ministry official explained after the briefing that Chung's decision to release the minutes came as many people in South Korea have shown interest in Hyde's remarks. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 get our troops out |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-14 8:04:06 PM |
| #2 This bozo is the "Unification Minister". His job is to say nice things about the NorKs. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-14 6:33:34 PM |
| #1 South Korea is to make up its own mind about providing aid to North Korea as the communist country is considered a brother while Washington is an ally, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said at a meeting of ministry officials on Monday. Not a problem. Remove all U.S. assets and personnel from South Korea and allow their "brother" to provide whatever they need or want. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-14 5:18:56 PM |