월스트리트 저널, ´균형자 역할론´ 비판
'야치 차관 발언은 사실 그대로 말한 것'
2005-05-31 11:42:51




홍콩의 아시안 월스트리트 저널(AWSJ)이 31일, 盧대통령의 ´동북아 균형자 역할론´을 신랄하게 비판하면서 최근 한국에서 큰 반발을 일으키고 있는 야치 쇼타로 일본 외무성 차관의 발언에 대해서도 사실 그대로를 말한 것이며 대단할 것도, 새로울 것도 없는 내용이라고 주장했다.

이 신문은 이 날 사설에서, 야치 차관의 발언은 사실상 한국 정부가 평소 말하던 것을 그대로 반영한 것이라며 미국 및 일본으로부터 거리를 두고 중국과 더 가까워지겠다는 노대통령의 거창한 이른바 `동북아 균형자´ 역할론은 국내에서도 많은 비판을 받고 있다고 말했다.

이어 한국 내의 비판은 많은 한국인들이 아직도 미군을 북한의 침략으로부터 구해 준 해방군으로 생각하고 있고 3만6천명의 미군이 목숨을 걸고 자신들의 자유를 지켜주고 있다고 생각하기 때문이라고 분석하면서, 노대통령 자신도 최근 여러 차례 '일부 식자층의 미국인보다 더 미국적인 언행'에 우려를 표시했다고 전했다.

야치 차관의 발언에서 새로운 것은 '노대통령의 균형자론이 일본이 미국이 수집한 북한관련 비밀 정보를 한국에 전해줄 수 없는 한 가지 이유'라는 것 뿐이라며, 한국이 이런 발언에 대해 격분하는 것은 노대통령이 韓美日 사이에 존재하던 우호관계를 얼마나 성공적으로 파괴했는 지를 보여주는 것일 뿐이라고 역설하기도 했다.

또 노대통령이 올해 초부터 ´균형자론´을 자주 언급해 왔으며, 지난 4월에는 미국이 북한 정권 붕괴를 가정해 제시한 한ㆍ미 공동 군사개입 계획을 거부했다면서 북한을 지나치게 배려하는 노대통령의 이같은 행동을 중국 정부마저도 부담스럽게 여기고 있다고 지적했다.

계속해서 한국 정부가 외교관들 뿐 아니라 자국 신문들이 스스로의 말을 상기시킬 때에도 심하게 반발하고 있다면서 '내가 장래를 내다보는 한국인이었다면 `나는 멀리 있는 강대국과 특별한 관계를 갖고 싶다´고 생각했을 것'이라는 크리스토퍼 힐 국무부 동아시아 태평양 담당 차관보의 말을 인용하고, 힐 차관보의 이런 발언은 일본과 중국, 러시아에 짓밟혔던 한국의 과거에 언급하는 것이라며 과거 `균형자 역할´을 하려던 한국의 시도는 재난으로 끝났다고 지적했다.

신문은 오는 6월11일 워싱턴에서 열리는 한ㆍ미 정상회담에서 한국의 대북정책과 함께 균형자 전략도 논의되겠지만 '양국간에 별다른 합의가 없다'는 한 미국 관계자의 말을 인용하면서 야치 차관의 발언에 대한 한국 정부의 요란한 반응은 그것이 타당하지 않기 때문이 아니라 타당하기 때문일 것이라고 분석했다.

[관련 AWSJ 사설 원문]

Seoul´s ´Balancing´ Role
The WallStreet Journal 2005. 5. 31 [REVIEW & OUTLOOK]



TSouth Korea´s President Roh Moo Hyun appears to have taken great umbrage at a Japanese diplomat´s comment that Washington no longer trusts the government in Seoul. But anyone reading the diplomat´s remarks would find them, well, unremarkable and not that new.

After all, much of what Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi uttered reflects what Seoul itself is saying. Mr. Roh´s desire to move South Korea away from its traditional alliances with Japan and the U.S., and closer to China -- a dubious strategy that purports to give South Korea the grand-sounding role of 'balancer in Northeast Asia' -- has been subjected to much criticism in Seoul.

That is because many South Koreans have not forgotten that it was the U.S. that led the coalition that liberated the capitalist South after it was invaded in 1950 by communist North Korea. Today, 36,000 U.S. soldiers are still stationed in the lower half of the peninsula, putting their lives on the line to keep South Koreans free.

Mr. Roh recently derided Koreans who think this way. 'Some educated South Koreans who speak in a way more like Americans than Americans are of the greatest concern,' he said while on a visit to Turkey last month.

All Mr. Yachi added is that Mr. Roh´s balancing act is one reason Japan cannot pass to Seoul confidential information on North Korea. He is reported to have told South Korean MPs that 'since the United States does not have sufficient trust in South Korea, Japan finds it a problem to share information it has received from Washington with South Korea.'

'The United States and Japan stand to the right, and China and North Korea to the left. South Korea appears to be moving from the center to the left,' Mr. Yachi went on, according to reports in several media outlets. Mr. Yachi last Friday indirectly confirmed that he made the remarks when he expressed regrets that they had come to light even though he said he had made them in a private context.

South Korea´s government immediately demanded an apology from Tokyo. So virulent has been Seoul´s reaction that a summit between Mr. Roh and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi slated for late June appeared to come close to being canceled.

But Seoul´s angry reaction shows how successful Mr. Roh has already been in destroying the amity that used to prevail in the Seoul-Tokyo-Washington triangle, and how closely his government copies Beijing´s own Japan-bashing rhetoric. Relations with Seoul´s old allies have deteriorated in 2005.

Since early in the year, Mr. Roh has been dropping mentions of his 'balancing' role into major speeches, including those he makes to the National Assembly or to armed forces. He told MPs in February that 'our military should be one with the right to operate independently to serve as a balancer in Northeast Asia.'

Then over the next two months South Korean news media consistently reported signs that Seoul was putting distance between itself and Tokyo. The Korea Times on March 28 quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Shin Hyun-don as saying that 'in line with government policy, we are considering reducing military exchanges with Japan.' This followed President Roh´s own call for a 'diplomatic war' with Japan over competing claims to some islands.

On April 6 the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said the Defense Ministry was planning a policy desk that would increase military cooperation with China and Russia. This followed a policy announcement by Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung that military ties with China would be strengthened, putting them on par with cooperation with Japan. Mr. Yoon also said this gesture was a follow-up to President Roh´s design for South Korea to become a 'balancing force in the Northeast Asian region,' Dong-A reported.

Also in April Mr. Roh´s government vetoed a U.S. plan for a joint armed intervention in North Korea in case the impoverished but possibly nuclear-armed Stalinist state implodes. Mr. Roh´s coddling of Pyongyang has, of course, also put him at odds with the Bush administration, and in line with Beijing.

But even China´s government may find Mr. Roh´s overly solicitous behavior toward North Korea burdensome. An opposition lawmaker told the Yonhap news agency in April that Beijing had complained to Washington that Seoul´s appeasement was an obstacle to convincing Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks it abandoned a year ago.

And those who know the misery that is the daily lives of North Koreans find Mr. Roh´s balancer designs a bitter irony. 'It´s a ridiculous idea to play a mediator´s role without considering one´s ally,' Hwang Jang-yop, the highest North Korean official ever to defect, was quoted by the Korea Times as saying in April.

South Korea´s government complains bitterly not just when diplomats remind the world of its own words, but when newspapers such as this do it. It insists that Mr. Roh intends to carry out this policy while retaining a strong alliance with the U.S. But U.S. officials have made it clear that the Bush administration isn´t pleased with Mr. Roh´s designs.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill recently told the New York Times that 'If I were a South Korean looking into the future, I would be saying to myself, ´I want a special relationship with a distant power´.' Mr. Hill was referring to the fact that Korea has historically been trampled by nearby powers such as Japan, China or Russia. Past attempts to play a 'balancing role' have ended in disaster.

Mr. Roh will be able to explain his 'vision' to President George W. Bush, when the two meet next week. Officials from both sides have been reported as saying the balancing act will be on the table on June 11, as well as Seoul´s North Korea policy. 'There´s not much agreement between both sides,' a U.S. official told us. Maybe there was so much hoopla over Mr. Yachi´s comments because they were valid, not invalid.

independent@independent.co.kr