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.
Foreign minister's misplaced modesty
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha shakes hands with Tim Betts, the leader of the U.S. team negotiating ROK-U.S. cost-sharing for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), at the ministry, Sunday. Betts is acting deputy assistant secretary of state. Korea Times
By Oh Young-jin
By Oh Young-jin
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has left much to be desired over the way she handled herself at the conclusion of ROK-U.S. cost-sharing talks for U.S. forces stationed here.
Call it serendipity, but it is possible to correlate Minister Kang's lack of a poker face with U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for an additional increase in Korea's share of costs Tuesday.
Kang was caught out ― a sight that appeared predominantly in photos on websites of key news outlets and on the front pages of their papers.
In the photo, Kang, all smiles, shakes hands with Tim Betts, the leader of the U.S. negotiating team on U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) cost-sharing, posing beside the national flag in the official setting at the ministry building Sunday.
The photo was out of place for two reasons.
The setting and the handshake were enough to make the two look on equal footing. But Betts is an acting deputy assistant secretary, a position that doesn't even appear on the U.S. State Department's organization chart.
The chart only shows his boss ― the assistant secretary for political-military affairs, the last of three assistant secretaries below one of six “under-secretaries” in the chain of command leading eventually up to deputy secretary and, ultimately, secretary.
True, the minister could get away with what some diplomats say was a breach of basic diplomatic niceties, arguing that it was a friendly gesture toward a lower-ranking official from the ally country. But the circumstances didn't call for it.
Above all, the two countries had rounds of tough negotiations, greatly influenced by Trump's demand for the doubling of Korea's contribution during his meeting with President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the G20 summit last year.
The outcome was by and large a draw and the cost-sharing issue remained open-ended.
Korea successfully brought this year's allocation to 1.03 trillion won, a bit over its Maginot line of 1 trillion won.
The U.S., however, took a significant 8 percent increase from last year and reserved the right to go back to the issue next year, possibly for another lofty increase instead of the current multi-year formula.
With that result in hand, it wouldn't be hard to guess how Trump or his aides would react when they saw the photos of the smiling Kang all over Korean media.
Perhaps Trump already answered that in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, when he observed: "They (South Korea) were paying about $500 million for $5 billion worth of protection. So they've agreed to pay $500 million more. And over the years, it will start going up, and they will be terrific. And they've been very good."
He almost mocked Korea as he said, “I said, 'Why didn't you do this before?' They said, 'Nobody asked.'”
The numbers didn't add up in Trump's unusual arithmetic style but the remarks reveal he still believes Korea is a freeloader and is determined to push until when he gets what he wants.
Trump's art of the deal formula is plain to see but somehow the minster missed it or received ill-informed advice when she had that photo op with Betts, which two days later looked very silly, Trump's remarks taken into account.
True, one can't expect Kang or anybody to predict what is to come but Kang's job sometimes requires her to be cold-hearted and highly calculating. Then she would have avoided the Betts photo, opting instead to have a cup of coffee with him and his entourage privately.
It would be a little less embarrassing.