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Remember the Korean Multipurpose Helicopter project? This was supposed to Korea’s great leap toward weaning itself from dependence on U.S. arms–a rather dubious proposal given that (1) it would inevitably have used 80% U.S. components; (2) development costs would still have been astronomical while the defense budget shrinks and comes under the strain of USFK reductions; and (3) many have tried to combine a large, fat bulky cargo chopper with a small, fast, nimble attack helicopter, and for obvious reasons few have succeeded. Today comes news that Korea is scaling the project back to build a utility helicopter only.

Having proven that nationalism can ruin diplomacy, Roh Moo-Hyun has now shown how it can puncture the state’s coffers.