South Korea a bright spot in Obama's frustrating six-day Asia tour
Friday, November 20, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
By Donald Kirk
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea Ñ The United States Air Force lieutenant was furious. How dare anyone ask questions of American troops without permission?
"This is a U.S. base, and you have no right to interview people," the lieutenant, who called himself a "public affairs officer", fumed when he saw this reporter asking soldiers what they thought of the rousing remarks by their commander-in-chief, U.S. President Barack Obama, a few minutes earlier.
The lieutenant, though, need not have worried. The 1,000 or so airmen, soldiers, marines and sailors who had just listened to Obama's remarks seemed to have loved it. It was the noisiest reception of his six-day Asia swing Ñ a loud and ebullient send-off on Thursday after frustrating talks in Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing with Asian leaders that were long on courtesy but short on agreeing to much.
Obama spoke in words that applied immediately to the U.S.'s long-running confrontation with North Korea, but his remarks also had implications for Iran, as enunciated hours earlier in Seoul at his summit with South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak. At this critical base 48 kilometers south of Seoul, the troops massed in a warehouse facility near the airstrip Ñ only a few minutes flying time from North Korea Ñ and repeatedly interrupted Obama with applause.
President Lee was just as enthusiastic. Among the leaders who hosted Obama during his trip, only he had seemed unreservedly in favor of Obama's escalating campaign to stop those two charter members of former U.S. president George W Bush's "axis of evil" Ñ Iran and North Korea Ñ from proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
While battling to persuade all nations to enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea for this year's nuclear and missile tests, Obama chose the meeting with South Korea's conservative leader to say he was pressing for new talks with "our international partners" about measures to halt Iran's program too.
Obama's remarks to the troops before boarding the Air Force One 747 waiting on the landing strip provided a forum for enlarging on the message. "You are helping to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction," he told his cheering audience. "That makes us all more secure." He did not say whether those weapons of mass destruction were North Korean or Iranian, but he did remind the troops, "Many of you have served in Iraq," "others have served in Afghanistan" Ñ and "others among you may deploy yet again".
Were some of the troops destined to buttress U.S. forces in Afghanistan? Obama did not given any hints on his looming decision on whether to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but the message of a strong military establishment provided the theme for a final day of success in Asia after problems everywhere else on the itinerary.
Somehow, Obama seemed much more sure of himself in the friendly environment of Korea than at any previous stage of a trip that had begun with uncertain talks with Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and plunged into still more frustration when he met China's President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao before coming here.
Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan in August finally toppled the entrenched, deeply conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has been highly critical of the deal made three years ago to consolidate U.S. bases on the island of Okinawa rather than have some of the U.S. Marines stationed there relocated to Guam. Obama was lucky to have persuaded Japan of the need for a joint committee to discuss the matter Ñ a put-off that seemed far preferable to the Americans than outright rejection of the earlier agreement.
In China, Hu was not at all open to Obama's pleas for measures to reform China's currency and redress the yawning Chinese trade surplus with the U.S. Hu may have been more sympathetic about U.S. efforts to enforce UN trade sanctions on North Korea and get North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons, but he clearly does not want to do anything that might destabilize the North Korean regime.
Only in South Korea could Obama be sure of real agreement on America's role as a superpower on fronts extending from Northeast Asia to the Middle East. "I have no greater honor than serving as commander-in-chief of the finest military the world has ever known," he said to loud cheers. "The strong alliance we have," he went on to more cheers, "that's the legacy you are carrying forward."
On a different level, Obama found equally common cause with Lee on getting North Korea to give up its nukes. So doing, he was able to announce finally that the U.S. envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, a former ambassador to South Korea, would go to Pyongyang on Dec. 8 to try to draw North Korea back into the six-party talks that were last held in Beijing nearly one year ago.
Obama also appeared to have won a measure of understanding from Lee on the contentious issue of the Korea-U.S. free-trade agreement, negotiated before either of them became presidents of their countries but still in need of ratification by the U.S. Congress.
Lee, standing beside Obama in a joint press conference after their summit in the Blue House, the center of presidential power, expressed his willingness to talk over differences on motor vehicle exports. He made no promises, but that remark was clearly an attempt to mollify the strong opposition of U.S. manufacturers to an agreement that they believe will open the floodgates to ever more Korean vehicles on the American market.
"We can talk, and I think we can talk again," said Lee, softening the tone of adamant opposition expressed by South Korean officials to reopening negotiations on a deal they regard as done.
That said, differences over the free trade agreement appeared relatively minor Ñ and perhaps even soluble Ñ compared to the overwhelming need to act in unison on North Korea. The tone of the meeting of minds between Lee's concept of a "grand bargain" and U.S. calls for a "comprehensive package" contrasted with the rancor that bubbled at or near the surface for the 10 years before Lee took office in February last year when his two predecessors focused on reconciliation with North Korea while North Korea went on developing Ñ and testing Ñ nuclear devices.
No doubt at the urging of Lee's political organization, the conservative Grand National Party, several thousand people lined the route of Obama's motorcade to the Blue House where thousands had poured out daily for months last year to protest the opening of Korean markets to U.S. beef. U.S. officials, and politicians from western U.S. states, made clear the beef market had to open up despite fears of "Mad Cow" disease if the free-trade agreement was to have any chance at all.
"America's commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea has never been stronger," Obama told the U.S. troops, and "our alliance will never waver." That was a message that South Korea's leaders also cheered Ñ while waiting to see whether the U.S. does not again fall for North Korea's demands in the next round of negotiations.