Book Recalls Korea-US Diplomacy

By Kim Se-jeong

Staff Reporter

A Korean version of "Ambassadors' Memoir - US-Korea Relations Through the Eyes of the Ambassadors" has been published in Seoul last week.

It came nearly one year after the English version detailing the experiences of 12 former Korean and American ambassadors was published in the United States in February, last year.

Jack Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI), who brainstormed the book project, was extremely proud upon completion.

It took four years in the making.

"In June 2006, I wrote all the ambassadors (about the idea)," he told The Korea Times during an event, which was held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, last Wednesday.

Six out of the 12 ambassadors were present at the event and cherished the uniqueness of the initiative.

The American authors include James Lilley (1986-1989), Donald Gregg (1989-1993), James Laney (1993-1997), Stephen Bosworth (1997-2000), Thomas Hubbard (2001-2004), Christopher Hill (2004-2005) and Alexander Vershbow (2005-2008).

The Korean ambassadors include Hyun Hong-choo (1990-1993), Park Kun-woo (1995-1998), Lee Hong-koo (1998-2000), Yang Sung-chul (2000-2003) and Han Sung-joo (2003-2005).

Ambassador Hill's memoir is only available in the Korean version of the book.

Much of the writing by Ambassador Lilley dealt with Korea's democratization movement during the former President Chun Doo-hwan administration and Washington's engagement.

He wrote two lessons from his experience as an ambassador to Korea.

"The first lesson was that in a crisis situation there could be no separation of opinion between the U.S. military in Seoul and the U.S. Embassy that might lead to ambiguity in the American position on matters of crucial importance to the U.S. and South Korea," he said.

"The second lesson was that developments inside Korea had to be a Korean thing, meaning that Koreans themselves must decide the direction of their country."

Kathleen Stephens, incumbent U.S. ambassador, said the two lessons would serve as useful advice. Lilley passed away last year.

Ambassador Gregg made a confession: "At the annual security consultation meeting held at the Pentagon in the autumn of 1992, the Team Spirit exercise was reinstated for March 1993. Both military establishments had cited the invaluable training that this exercise provided. I had not been consulted. Had I been consulted, I would have objected strongly. I still consider this the single biggest mistake made by the United States during my time as ambassador."

The Team Spirit exercise was a joint military drill between the U.S. and South Korea.

The announcement in 1993 led North Korea to protest by expelling investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it threatened to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

Then-President Bill Clinton's administration sent former President Jimmy Carter secretly on a peace mission.

Ambassador Laney's focus was Carter's visit to Pyongyang in 1994.

"Carter was following up his growing determination to travel to North Korea. Not surprisingly, President Clinton was less than enthusiastic about the idea, but gave his approval and authorized a thorough briefing by Gallucci and others. ... To President Kim (Young-sam), the idea that his nemesis, Kim Il-sung, was to host a former president of the United States was galling. His government held out little hope of anything worthwhile coming out of the trip."

Hubbard, whose time as U.S. ambassador in Korea was the most difficult, began his memoir talking about his arrival.

"When I left Washington to take up my post in Seoul on Sept. 10, 2001, I had no way of knowing that my arrival the following day would coincide with one of the darkest days in U.S. history. The suicidal terrorists who struck New York and Washington just as I arrived in Seoul profoundly altered the course of U.S. diplomacy."

His three-year post was faced with a presidential election, which elected liberal Roh Moo-hyun, and the difference in views toward North Korea; the death of two young schoolgirls run over by a large armored vehicle; and the FIFA World Cup.

Korean Ambassador Han revealed stories behind his unexpected appointment as ambassador to the U.S. by Roh.

"I did not share his thoughts and I had not voted for him, a fact that President Roh knew only too well. So why did he offer me the job and why did I accept the offer? Roh wanted to appoint someone who seemed to be on reasonably good terms with the United States but also share his view that it was extremely important to keep military conflict from erupting on the Korean Peninsula," Han wrote.

"Among the many tasks I had before me, two stood out. One was to assure the Bush administration that President Roh was not anti-American after all and that he meant to have good relations with the U.S. The second was to make sure that the U.S. did not overreact to the North Korean nuclear program or possibly seek to attack North Korea."

Pritchard said the value of the book would only grow with time, and the book will have future editions.

There are former ambassadors who will still add their own contributions, including Lee Tae-sik (2006-2009), and incumbent Stephens has also pledged to do so, he said.

British Ambassador Martin Uden expressed his wish to initiate a similar project between British and Korean diplomats.