A credible President in South Korea

HONG KONG – It is Christmas morning and I am sitting by a window overlooking Victoria Harbor with Doris Day singing Christmas songs from a CD player in the next room. The South China Morning Post took a one-day publishing break so I have only yesterday’s issue to share a mirror of what Hong Kong life is like at Christmas. Frankly there is nothing of the Christmas spirit on the front page except for a top two-inch greeting and announcement of the publishing break. The headline is a dreary "US sends out a clear warning to North Korea". The other big story, "Accountants to face public scrutiny" does not offer any comfort either. The two stories below the fold are more positive – "Deal reached on new bridge at Lok Ma Chao" and "Mainland to build up bank of bone marrow" but still distant from what is portrayed as "Christmas" – western consumerism. That is symbolized in a quarter-page ad from Piaget of Geneve with a picture of a ring and a watch in a secret garden. This is not to say that I was exempt from the consumerism either. I bought all my gifts in Manila’s bazaars and sales and I congratulated myself for the foresight. There are no bargains in Hong Kong anymore if you compare it with Manila’s prices. Four of us had a meal at Morton’s, the famous American steak house, and our bill came to US$400 for a simple meal we could have had for half the price in Makati. We’re not cooking anything for today. Instead we’re joining the horde at the Mandarin brunch then walk in the paths of reservoir at the back of daughter Veronica and husband Mark’s 11th story flat. We’re a divided family this year with daughter Marta and family sailing the Caribbean, us in Hong Kong and sons Alberto, Ricardo and Eduardo keeping the home fires burning in Manila.

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In a sense the headline on North Korea followed me to Hong Kong. I received some dispatches from South Korea’s embassy on their new president, Roh Moo-Hyun. It is early to tell just what kind of president he will be but early descriptions say he is a human rights lawyer who will modernize relations between his country and the United States of America. In his first press conference in Seoul, Roh, who won on what was described as a groundswell of anti-American sentiment, said "The traditional friendship and alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States must mature and advance in the 21st century."

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Less diplomatic are the words of a young voter Kim Yun Hee who is quoted in TIME with words that could well be the harbinger of things to come in the millennium: "The US is oppressing North Korea and only Roh’s non-confrontational diplomacy can guarantee peace on the Korean peninsula." The betting will be how well the new president will be able to balance the two difficult positions of keeping the lines open to with the North while keeping the traditional close ties with America. Korea watchers think that with North Korea’s intransigence on it nuclear arsenal, something will have to give. Roh’s own victory was a precarious one with only a 2.3 margin of victory. Analysts say there is a difference in perception between Americans and South Koreans and troubles will begin when that difference is forced out. For the time being, Roh is seen as a moderate with a following large enough to have won him the presidency. "I’m not anti-American, I just don’t think we need to kowtow to the US," he assured fellow moderates.

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South Korea’s new-found assertiveness as demonstrated by the election of a man who once wanted US troops out of the country as president is not unique in Asia. It can be safely said that it is a growing attitude among the continent’s leaders. The new South Korean president has expressed what most leaders in Asia, especially US close allies. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will do well to watch how President Roh conducts the new found assertiveness of his country’s foreign policy. That to me is a far more significant import than any product from the Korean peninsula. Although First Secretary Lee Yong Soo reminds me that Korea is RP’s fifth largest trading partner and one of the major investors and development assistance donors to the Philippines, there cannot be anything more important than its example of how to be a close ally of the United States while retaining its integrity as a nation.

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Much will depend on how the US views this assertiveness. The challenge is as much for the new South Korean president as it is for President George W. Bush who has already invited Roh to the United States. Unlike South Korea, however, the Philippines is in a far more precarious economic situation to make bold diplomatic assertions but there are other ways of eliciting respect from powerful countries like the United States. I do not believe that the role of candor in the conduct of personal relations is any different from the role it plays indiplomacy between countries. We should speak plainly and sincerely in conducting our foreign relations even if it is sometimes seen as criticism of America. I think we lost an opportunity for more effective diplomacy had she retained Vice President Teofisto Guingona as secretary of foreign affairs. President Arroyo could have used him to effect a less obsequious stance towards the Americans. What better excuse for not succumbing to American domination than a difficult nationalist for foreign secretary? At the same time, President GMA is at the helm. In the final analysis, she decides. She would have done better but that is all water under the bridge. For now, I would advise her to watch how President Roh does his diplomatic balancing act.

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Merry Christmas to all my readers.

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My e-mail address: [email protected] or [email protected].