For My Next Act, I Shall Balance Four Whales on One Shrimp!

Roh Moo Hyun thinks his neighborhood needs a regional “multilateral security framework:”

Roh […] emphasized that the European experience can be useful in coping with pending issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula. He said challenges confronting Northeast Asia include lingering Cold War-like tensions, concerns over the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and environmental protection. He also said there are uncertainties on the possible realignment of power among Northeast Asian actors.

“The European system that laid the foundation for the successful integration of Europe is a valuable role model for Northeast Asia,” he said. The chief executive said that any future multilateral framework should compliment existing security arrangements, indicating he did not support drastic changes to military alliances including the one between Seoul and Washington.

Splendid idea, because as everyone knows, modern European concepts of consensus-building are universally accepted inside the Forbidden City and the Kremlin. Dibs on “The Greater China Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

4 Responses

  1. hey josh, this is what the nk human rights acts refers to as the helsinki process. of course, roh completely leaves out the key basket — human rights and other political rights. but it clearly shows the 6 party talks ain’t going anywhere and he’s at least trying. he did go to the right city to endorse this idea.

  2. Sean, It’s hard to take a major foreign policy initiative from Roh seriously in light of recent events. Any institution is as good or as bad as its membership. I really don’t see how you can make a process like that really work on a regional basis, when democracy is far from the dominant system of government in that region. Yes, it worked when Western Europe and the United States acted to police the behavior of governments in Eastern Europe that increasingly depended on aid and commerce from the West, but the dynamics of Northeast Asia are completely different. Can you imagine Roh Moo Hyun policing the behavior of China or North Korea?

    On the other hand, a Helsinki framework could work on a global basis, as a replacement for the United Nations, if only representative democracies were voting members.

  3. Agreed. butin the absence of anything else, putting roh in a room full of people who would be a positiion to counter smoe of the stuff he says could put him in his place. His remark about NK missiles flying too far to be a threat to South Korea would be laughed out of any conference. he’s simply not answerable to anyone and as a lameduck has no reason to listen to anyone.

  4. Agreed. butin the absence of anything else, putting roh in a room full of people who would be a positiion to counter smoe of the stuff he says could put him in his place. His remark about NK missiles flying too far to be a threat to South Korea would be laughed out of any conference. he’s simply not answerable to anyone and as a lameduck has no reason to listen to anyone.