Repeated Diplomatic Failures Corner Lee’s Administration

By Na Jeong-ju

Staff Reporter

The Lee Myung-bak administration faces rising calls to revamp its lineup of senior diplomats to take responsibility for recent diplomatic blunders.

Its poor handling of Japan's move to claim the South Korean islets of Dokdo and its dealing with the killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier at Mt. Geumgang are now at the center of mounting criticism.

Opposition parties have called for Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan to step down. The fate of South Korea's Ambassador to Washington, Lee Tae-sik, has become uncertain following news that the Board of Geographical Naming (BGN) of the United States changed Dokdo's status to ``undesignated sovereignty'' on its Web site from its previous recognition of it as South Korean territory.

Upon hearing the news, an angered President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to deliver his concern to the United States, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials, Monday.

``We are meeting with officials of the State Department and other related U.S. government agencies to explain that the Dokdo islets are our sovereign territory by history, international law and geography,'' Ambassador Lee said Sunday at a hastily arranged news conference in Washington. ``We are doing our utmost to rectify it.''

The change of the BGN's stance on Dokdo is the latest in a series of diplomatic blunders that have put the administration in deep trouble.

Just days before Lee held a Camp David summit with U.S. President George W. Bush in April, the government rushed to sign a deal to resume U.S. beef imports, prompting massive public protests.

Days after Lee pledged a ``future-oriented relationship'' with Japan during his summit with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Japan announced new teaching guidelines for middle school students, portraying Dokdo as its territory.

Then came the killing of a female tourist at the Mt. Geumgang resort. Lee received a belated report regarding the shooting on his way to the National Assembly to give a speech on inter-Korean relations. During the speech, Lee pledged to promote inter-Korean cooperation and called on North Korea to reopen inter-Korean dialogue.

North Korea and Japan will provide ongoing serious diplomatic challenges to Lee, observers agree.

``Seoul is now in a dilemma because of its unsuccessful policies regarding Pyongyang and Tokyo. Seoul's uneasy relations with its neighboring countries will raise geopolitical uncertainties surrounding the Korean Peninsula down the road,'' said Shin Ju-baik, a professor of international studies at Kookmin University in Seoul.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr