By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Lee Myung-bak government is suffering a strong backlash domestically over its poor diplomatic maneuvers, which some critics say were outpaced by North Korea, during last week's regional security forum in Singapore.
Criticism has been mounting after Singapore, which chaired the annual meeting of foreign ministers from the 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), deleted an expression of concern by regional powers over the recent shooting death of a South Korean tourist at a North Korean resort from the chairman's statement Thursday, apparently due to the North Korean delegation's objection.
It is rare for a diplomatic statement to be modified after it has already been officially released, although the statement is frequently refined before being finalized.
The main opposition Democratic Party demanded Saturday that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan step down to take responsibility for the ``diplomatic disgrace.''
The governing Grand National Party (GNP) also expressed regret over the omission of the shooting incident in the statement.
``In light of North Korea's unwillingness to cooperate in the investigation (into the shooting case), deleting any mention of the tragedy is very regrettable,'' GNP spokesman Cha Myung-jin said.
The deletion was considered an embarrassment for the South Korean delegation led by Minister Yu since the group had made every effort to put the incident under the global spotlight and have it addressed in the closing statement.
The South has been pressing the North to accept a joint on-site investigation into the July 11 shooting death of 53-year-old South Korean female, Park Wang-ja, while the communist neighbor has been ignoring Seoul's demand.
Park was shot dead by a North Korean soldier when she mistakenly strayed into a restricted zone on a beach near North Korea's east coast resort during her trip to Mt. Geumgang.
In the statement posted after Thursday's ARF talks on its official website, the ARF ministers ``expressed their concern over the shooting of the ROK (Republic of Korea) tourist at the Geumgang resort area, and their hope that the incident would be resolved expeditiously.''
But the statement, at the same time, at the request of North Korean officials, included wording calling on Seoul to engage in inter-Korean dialogue ``based on'' the Oct. 4 Summit Declaration signed by Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last year in Pyongyang.
The conservative Lee administration has expressed a negative view on implementing all the accords made at the second inter-Korean summit, which produced a package of South Korean-backed business projects across the border, including establishing a ``peace zone'' in disputed areas near the west coast.
Lee pledged a tougher policy toward North Korea demanding more reciprocity from the communist state and said his government would review every inter-Korean accord, and Seoul's aid programs for the North would be linked to progress toward the abolishment of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
Lee said, in particular, big-budget inter-Korean business programs placing much financial burden on South Korean taxpayers would take a backseat until the domestic economy revives.
North Korea has strongly criticized the Lee government for ``ignoring'' the summit agreements.
Against this backdrop, South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon asked his Singaporean counterpart later to remove the wording related to the 2007 inter-Korean summit declaration from the statement since the phrase could give the upper hand to the North in the tension over the stalled inter-Korean dialogue, according to diplomatic sources in Seoul.
However, Singapore decided to erase both phrases on the tourist killing and the summit declaration to ensure ``diplomatic fairness,'' the sources said.
Some foreign relations experts here say the outcome has shown up the poor and short-sighted diplomatic skills of the Lee administration, while others say the omission of the summit declaration would rather help the government avoid criticism from the conservatives and relieve Seoul's burdens regarding inter-Korean relations.
``The delegation appeared to be short-sighted as it was too worried about political issues at home, As a result it could lose its long-term confidence in foreign diplomacy,'' Professor Bae Jin-hyeon of Seoul National University in Seoul said. ``Before that, I think it was not so careful in its efforts to address the isolated issue of tourist killing in the chairman's statement.''
Professor Kim Sung-han of Korea University in Seoul agreed on Seoul's partial mishap at the ARF meeting but said the deletion of both phrases was the best decision for South Korea.
He said the inclusion of wording calling for honoring the outcome of the Oct. 4 summit in an official diplomatic statement would weaken Seoul's leverage in inter-Korean relations down the road.
``The chairman's statement is not legally binding, but it is still an official record. So, I believe the South Korean delegation felt a need to resolve the issue in advance in an appropriate manner,'' said Kim.
The ARF's 27 members include South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, which are also involved in six-way talks aimed at abolishing Pyongyang's nuclear programs.