Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' publisher and president. He began to work at The Korea Times in 1988 as a sports writer. Then, he worked as a reporter and later as editor at the City Desk, Business Desk and Politics Desk. He worked as chief editorial writer before taking the current position. He has a keen interest in politics as well as defense affairs.
US Embassy twitter account turns into battlefield for Koreans
By Oh Young-jin
By Oh Young-jin
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris. Korea Times file
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul retweeted the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus' “deeply disappointed and concerned” comments on Aug. 26 over Korea's decision to terminate its three-year-old military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.
It has a Korean translation that was tweeted as well. Other postings have Korean translations but some may raise questions about its appropriateness.
The responses vary widely, with some being very graphic.
One posting talks about the importance of the ROK-U.S.-Japan alliance, while another suggests the U.S. pull out.
There is one regarding the statement preventing Cheong Wa Dae from lying and another describing the GSOMIA decision as Korea's act of betrayal. One even went to the extreme of raising an issue over U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris' Japanese ancestry.
First of all, it appears that the Korean account has not been screened for basic national, racial and linguistic sensitivities. Second, it appears that the U.S. Embassy is directly getting involved in domestic politics of the host Korea, with its account serving as an extension of the battlefield between conservatives and progressives.
Harris may have to think whether it is appropriate to bring the Korean battle to its website at the risk of getting entangled in a partisan fight that's becoming fierce ahead of the April general election.