Denial Spills Its Banks, Floods Korea Again!

The new U.S. Ambassador to Seoul hasn’t even taken office yet, and he already sounds like my kind of guy. The Chosun Ilbo has some highlights of his confirmation hearing, like this gem: “The Korea-U.S. alliance must always re-adjust itself in accordance with the changes of the times, and that’s not an easy thing.” Funny, if I wrote the headline for that, it wouldn’t say, “Next Ambassador Stresses U.S. Alliance,” which he indeed did, of course, after dropping that thermonuke. My headline would say, “Incoming U.S. Ambassador Hints at Troop Cuts.” It would go right above the ones that say, “KOSPI Dives, Gold Futures Skyrocket,” and “Boat Prices Leap to New Record.”

That old song “Accentuate the Positive” must have been pretty popular during the Korean War. Apparently, the message took root in fertile soil.

It gets even better. He said that “North Korea is one of the worst violators of human rights in the world, and as ambassador, he would show active interest in that problem.” Good for him.