Abe fallout paints Yun into corner

By Kang Seung-woo

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se was painted into a corner Friday over failing to deal with Korea’s alleged diplomatic isolation brought on by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s initiative to tighten Japan’s relationship with the United States.

Yun defended the situation saying that concerns were groundless, but ruling party lawmakers refuted his assertions.

"The ROK-U.S. alliance and the U.S.-Japan alliance are mutually complementary. It is not right to see them as a zero-sum game," the minister told Saenuri Party lawmakers.

"The U.S. Congressional Research Service estimates that the ROK-U.S alliance is stronger than ever. The point of view that Korea will be isolated due to ever-growing U.S.-Japan ties is going too far."

Party lawmakers disagreed.

"Relations between the U.S., Japan and China will decide Korea’s fate and in this regard, the ruling party has many worries about whether the government is properly dealing with the issue," Saenuri Party floor leader Yoo Seong-min said in the meeting with Yun and Defense Minister Han Min-koo at the National Assembly.

After the meeting, the party issued a press release denouncing the ministry's lack of diplomatic strategy, revealed through Abe's U.S. visit, given that diplomacy and security is directly linked to the fate of the nation.

"The government failed to foresee how the Abe Cabinet would implement its East Asia strategy," said Kim Yeoul-soo, a professor of international political science at Sungshin Women’s University. "It is too late for the government to adopt a two-track approach toward Japan after so long a time."

Karl Friedhoff, a fellow in public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said that Abe's deft diplomacy will now increase pressure on President Park Geun-hye.

Park has yet to meet with Abe for a summit since her inauguration in February 2013, calling for his apology for the comfort women issue in advance.

"Much of the blame has been placed on Park. In contrast to the forward-looking Abe, the perception is that this has become a personal issue for her rather than one of current and future national interests," he said in his contribution to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

On Thursday, Abe addressed a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., but the hawkish premier failed to apologize for Japan's wartime atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women.

When Abe's speech was fixed about a month ago, Yun said that the nation would try to get him to make an apology for the sexual slavery rather than blocking him from standing in front of U.S. lawmakers, but the ministry's failure has put the minister in the hot seat.