Word: roh
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...more nationalistic generation of South Koreans who are frustrated with America's dominant role in the fate of the peninsula. Younger citizens want their leaders to carve out a new, more independent position?one that envisions the eventual, peaceful reunification of the two countries. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, elected in 2002 thanks to strong support from younger voters, said in a speech in Los Angeles last year that he could understand why North Korea might feel it needs nuclear weapons as "a deterrant for defending itself from external agression." (Roh still insists that the long-standing alliance between...
...North Asia, it was supposed to be the year of living harmoniously. In January, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun rang in the Korea-Japan Friendship Year in Seoul by announcing, "Let's be friends happily and head toward the future." This sunny message was an echo of the event's catchy theme song, Dance with Me, performed by Korean singer Lena Park and a Japanese band called Chemistry. China also picked up on the good vibes and was making efforts to put aside its long-standing antipathy toward Japan: a group of women climbers from Japan and China arranged...
...stalwart Japanese business interests in China are spooked by the vitriol: Honda, the first Japanese carmaker to produce autos in China, announced it would curtail business trips to the mainland for safety reasons. Meanwhile, eight events for the Korea-Japan Friendship Year have now either been postponed or cancelled. Roh posted a "letter to the nation" on his website declaring that his country must be prepared to wage a "diplomatic war" with Japan...
...Such provocation notwithstanding, the surge of Japan-bashing may stem more from domestic politics rather than any serious external threat. South Korea's Uri Party, which supports Roh, faces a critical by-election at the end of this month?and with Korea's economy sputtering, fanning regional hatreds might help to bring out the nationalist vote. Roh may have had this strategy in mind last month when he suggested that Japan pay further reparations to Koreans mistreated during the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, and that Tokyo must make a "genuine" apology. Diplomatic ties between...
...help them get into gear. "Now that you need Japanese cooperation more than ever, you make [the Tokdo islands] an issue?" says Balbina Hwang, an expert on Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. "This has gone completely out of control." That harmonious future President Roh spoke of so glowingly just three months ago? It's already gone up in smoke...