Yi Whan-woo is a Korea Times journalist primarily covering finance. He writes in-depth articles on macroeconomy and financial markets and previously covered sports, politics, diplomacy and inter-Korean affairs, among others. Feel free to contact him at yistory@koreatimes.co.kr.
Lax discipline, frayed ties with neighbors haunt Korean diplomacy
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has been under fire for blunders involving ministry officials and soured ties with North Korea and Japan. / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
By Yi Whan-woo
South Korean diplomacy faces the double whammy of blunders within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and soured ties with North Korea and Japan.
Some critics argue that such diplomatic setbacks have been triggered by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha's lack of leadership and lax discipline across the ministry.
This year alone, the ministry has made a series of diplomatic gaffes and alleged ethical lapses. These include an incorrect reference to three Baltic States ― Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia ― as Balkan states, the display of a crumpled national flag at Korea-Spain bilateral talks, the leak of details of a telephone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump and the alleged abuse of power by Korean ambassadors to Mongolia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The critics hold Kang responsible for lacking strategies following the collapse of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi late February and the intensified diplomatic row with Japan over the South Korean Supreme Court's ruling on forced labor during Japan's colonization of Korea.
The critics say balanced diplomacy is especially needed amid U.S.-China crossfire over Chinese tech giant Huawei.
They say a failure to do so could lead to more economic retaliation from Beijing following its dispute with Seoul over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system here.
“Kang is apparently being blamed for the series of blunders,” Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University, said. “They would not have happened if she was fully in control of the ministry and made sure its officials were disciplined in terms of work and ethics.”
Park said Kang “lacks competence” as a foreign minister, claiming “she does not seem to have a grand strategy to cope with turbulent diplomacy in the region.”
The professor referred to Trump's America-first foreign policy, China's willingness to downplay confrontation with Japan and Tokyo's gesture to open talks with Pyongyang.
“Under these circumstances, South Korean diplomacy is still focused on North Korea and it should not go on like this,” he said.
Kim Hyun-wook, a Korea National Diplomatic Academy professor, agreed.
“We have the New Southern Policy and the New Northern Policy under the Moon administration, but the centerpiece of our diplomacy is North Korea,” he said.
Yang Moon-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said Kang, who has years of career experience at the United Nations, “has a global mindset” but still “lacks experience” when it comes to relations with North Korea and regional powers.
The experts said “looking after” relations with four of the six stakeholders of the Korean Peninsula ― the U.S., China, Japan and Russia ― was critical to tackling diplomatic challenges.
Park underlined the importance of untangling the conflict with Japan over the forced labor of Koreans during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the peninsula.
Japan has denounced the Supreme Court's rulings last year that recognized individual rights of the victims to claim damages from Japanese companies.
Tokyo argues that all reparation-related issues were settled in a 1965 state-to-state treaty that normalized bilateral diplomatic ties.
It has requested diplomatic talks with Seoul over the issue, citing Article III of the treaty.
This stipulates that the two sides are to settle any dispute related to the treaty primarily through diplomatic channels. If they fail, the case can then be referred to an arbitration commission.
Under such circumstances concerns have arisen that Seoul might have little diplomatic leverage should Tokyo resume negotiations with Pyongyang over normalizing bilateral ties.
Keen on settling the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents decades ago, Tokyo has repeatedly shown its interest in resuming talks with Pyongyang and maintaining a measure of influence over peace efforts on the peninsula.
“Settling the row over forced labor will be urgent to untangle Korea-Japan ties,” Park said.
Yang said nothing has been decided on talks between Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G20 Summit scheduled for Osaka, Japan, June 28 and 29.
Regarding the U.S.-China row, professor Kim said Seoul may be forced to “make a decision to choose between the two.”
Citing U.S. analysts and officials, he said Washington has recently been demanding Seoul join the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific alliance against China.
In November 2017, Trump suggested to Moon that South Korea participate in a “free and open Indo-Pacific” strategy.
According to Kim Jae-chun, a professor of International Relations at Sogang University's Graduate School of International Studies, Moon, however, wants to split the difference between the U.S. and China.
“The Moon government understands that the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance is the centerpiece of South Korea's security and diplomacy,” Kim wrote in a report titled “South Korea's free and open Indo-Pacific dilemma.”
He also said the Moon government believes that a free and open Indo-Pacific is designed to contain China, adding it “poses a foreign policy challenge to the Moon government that has been treading on a tightrope between the U.S. and China.”
He said South Korea joining the Indo-Pacific alliance could be “largely dependent upon how the concept evolves.”
He argued that the Moon government perceives the idea of a free and open Indo-Pacific as “mainly a Japanese initiative to contain China militarily” and that this may make it difficult to win public support.
He argued that South Korea, however, would positively consider participating in the strategy if it “evolves into an official U.S. strategy toward Asia.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided May 30 to sack a diplomat who leaked details of a phone call between Moon and Trump.
The diplomat, only identified as a staffer at the South Korean Embassy in the U.S., is accused of telling Rep. Khang Hyo-shang of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) what was discussed during the May 7 call.
Moon reportedly asked Trump to visit Seoul immediately after his May 25 to 28 trip to Japan, while Trump proposed a short stop in Seoul on his return home from Tokyo.
The ministry has filed criminal complaints with the prosecution against the diplomat and Khang over the leaking of classified material.
The diplomat acknowledged his wrongdoing but denied he intended to harm the government's policy.
The LKP has argued that the leak was in order for the people's right to know about the Moon administration's “begging diplomacy.”