Envoy to US in hot seat over repeated controversial remarks

Korean Ambassador to the United States Lee Soo-hyuck speaks from his office in Washington, D.C., during a video-linked National Assembly audit session, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Korean Ambassador to U.S. Lee Soo-hyuck is in hot water over his repeated remarks that seem to devalue the nation's seven-decade alliance with the United States.

Diplomatic watchers say it was inappropriate for the ambassador, whose mission is to manage bilateral relations, to make such comments that drew immediate rebuttals from the U.S. side on two occasions.

"Just because Korea chose the U.S. 70 years ago does not mean it has to choose the U.S. for the next 70 years, too," Lee said during the audit of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Monday.

"Korea can choose to keep siding with the U.S. only if it is able to love the country and if it serves the nation's interests."

His remarks came as the power struggle between the U.S. and China has been intensifying, with each side urging Korea to pick a side.

"The Korea-U.S. alliance is not only military but is a comprehensive one with economic, social and cultural aspects," he said. "But when we see from the past (conflicts with China) like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) row, we've experienced the importance of China from economic aspects."

In less than a day, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in response to Lee's remarks, which was seen as a de facto refutation.

"We are extremely proud of our 70-year-old alliance and all it has done for the sake of peace and prosperity for the U.S. and ROK, and the region as a whole," it told Radio Free Asia.

"Based on our shared values, our two countries are constantly working together as allies and friends to ensure that our alliance is able to meet new and emerging challenges in the region, including those that would seek to undermine the rules-based international order."

It is not the first time that see Lee's remarks related to the U.S.-China hegemonic rivalry have stirred controversy and faced backlash from the U.S. government.

Back in June, Lee told correspondents in Washington, D.C., that "Korea is not a country forced to make a choice between the U.S. and China anymore ― we are proud that we can make a choice on our own," inviting another rare statement from the State Department.

At the time, David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told Voice of America that Korea made its choice decades ago when it accepted democracy over authoritarianism.

"This is not a choice of China. You can work with both the U.S. and China, but you also have to consider your own national character, and most countries have moved to a system of democratic governance for the right reasons ― because it's more stable, it takes advantage of the benefits of the population's thinking, and voting and letting people be heard allows them to buy in and support versus resist, as we saw in Hong Kong and other places," said Stilwell, the U.S. counterpart to Lee.

"So, yes, I don't like the discussion about whether you have to choose between the U.S. and China. I think you have to choose your own national system. And if you choose democracy, then you've made the right choice."

Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University, said making such remarks is not the ambassador's job at all, adding that the U.S.' immediate responses are not a good sign for the bilateral ties between Seoul and Washington.

"I understand his remarks were seen as stressing Korea's national interests, which is not wrong, given that the Donald Trump administration has alienated allies, but he should not have made such improper remarks as the nation's top diplomat to the U.S. in a public place," Park said.

"In response to Lee's remarks, the U.S. State Department immediately issued a statement for the second time and the Korean government needs to take it very seriously."

Park said the U.S. State Department's basic stance is not to immediately respond to allies' remarks on their bilateral relations, but the de facto rebuttals mean the U.S. is deeply displeased with Korea.

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