Korea seems to have fallen into serious diplomatic trouble with Libya, but media reports are providing more questions than answers. Given the recent series of actions Libya has taken, the African country appears to be so upset as to suspend ― even sever ― ties. Yet Seoul just keeps saying all this has been caused by Tripoli’s misunderstanding.
At issue are the activities of a Korean intelligence officer, who was expelled from Libya a month ago as a ``persona non grata.” The Libyan government says he was caught red-handed gathering sensitive information related to the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Qaddafi, and his relatives. Some local reports went as far as to suspect the agent attempted to pass the secrets to the United States.
Officials here claim that he was merely collecting defense industry intelligence between Libya and North Korea, and attributed it to the gap in ``interpreting” information-gathering activities.
We are not in a position to judge the authenticity of these widely differing assertions, and besides, there must be some facts both sides ― perhaps more so on the part of Seoul ― cannot make public, as this conflict was sparked by a Korean officer’s acts in a foreign country.
At least two things are quite clear at this moment.
First, the government’s initial response to this diplomatic row was scandalously inappropriate. It was not until 20 days after the espionage agent was deported that Seoul sent Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, elder brother of President Lee Myung-bak, as a special presidential envoy to resolve the dispute. Colonel Gaddafi didn’t even allow an audience to this high-caliber guest from Korea during the latter’s weeklong stay.
Some media reports here say the foreign ministry hadn’t even known about Libya’s suspension of consular services until businesspeople complained about it. If this is due to sheer derelict of duty by the ministry, it is a most outrageous denial of its own raison d’etre.
One would rather wish there be some reasons the ministry had to pretend not to know, as shown by its initial attempts to ascribe ― falsely ― the budding conflict to a few Korean students’ missionary works there. Even so, it’s a problem that Seoul hasn’t managed to gain consular access to two of its citizens that have been detained for weeks by a foreign government, which has yet to present plausible reasons.
Second, the North African country is too important to remain alienated from Korea for both economic and diplomatic reasons. Libya is Korea’s third-largest construction market with accumulated order receipts of $34.6 billion, and Seoul enjoyed a surplus of $1.2 billion in two-way trade with Tripoli last year. Qaddafi also currently heads the African Union.
Regardless of when and how this conflict is to be settled, it forces one to rethink President Lee’s ``pragmatic diplomacy.” In undue emphasis on the ``Big 4,” the Third World has been neglected, and even among the four major powers, Beijing and Moscow are distancing themselves from Seoul. Inter-Korean relations are at their lowest in decades under a foreign minister who has confined himself to an ideological straight jacket.
Economy may not be the only area that requires an ``exit strategy.”