Curt Weldon Speaks Korean? Who Knew?

Or at least, that’s what you’d have to conclude on reading this latest dispatch from The Washington Times’s Inside the Beltway column.

As I’d hoped, Rep. Curt Weldon, North Korea’s favorite Congressman and (follow that last link if you doubt me here) an accomplished bomb-thrower, was duly humiliated by the fact that his “diplomatic” guest engaged in the kind of behavior that would have gotten any ordinary voter restrained from going within ten blocks of the Capitol. Now, Weldon–who I venture hasn’t a clue what was said at all–is claiming that it just aint so, in an angry letter to the paper:

. . . Mr. Weldon in his letter blasted the president of the bipartisan Defense Forum Foundation (DFF), Suzanne Scholte, and her recollection of events as they unfolded after his Gold Room lunch Oct. 27.

In the Nov. 1 Inside the Beltway column, Mrs. Scholte charged that Mr. Han threatened Mr. Kim in the moments before he and two fellow North Korean defectors, both women, testified about purported human rights atrocities in the communist country. Mrs. Scholte had arranged for the defectors’ congressional testimony as head of the DFF.

She said others accompanied the defectors into the Gold Room, where Mr. Kim held up a sign in Korean that read: “The Road to Peace on the Korean Peninsula is the Expulsion of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il.”

“Kim then said these same words to Ambassador Han as he was walking across the room,” said Mrs. Scholte, at which time “Han then threatened Kim with ‘Do you want to die … ?’ ”

Mr. Weldon calls Mrs. Scholte’s recollection “grossly inaccurate,” containing a “litany of misrepresentations and falsehoods,” and “perhaps the most patently false is the claim that the ambassador threatened the life of a North Korean protester.

“Ambassador Han never came into contact with any of the protesters, and whatever anger he expressed was toward the deluge of paparazzi-like reporters that descended upon him without warning,” the lawmaker said. “As exciting as the confrontation dreamed up by Mrs. Scholte might sound … it never happened.”

But in an interview with this columnist yesterday, a senior congressional aide who speaks Korean confirmed that he had accompanied Mrs. Scholte into the Gold Room, and immediately afterward, while agreeing to serve as an interpreter for an Associated Press reporter, spoke to Mr. Kim about his verbal exchange with the ambassador.

I know who that aide is, and he’s not going to lose any swearing contests. The man’s reputation is impeccable, even among those who strongly oppose him on policy.

“I quoted Mr. Kim as saying that, ‘Ambassador Han looked at me, and with a threatening gesture, he said, “You bastard … Do you want to die?” ‘ I translated that,” the aide said.

Mrs. Scholte, who was out of town yesterday delivering a speech, said by telephone that she stands behind all her earlier statements. Furthermore, she said a Korean lawyer on hand in the Gold Room is “willing to sign an affidavit” about what she had witnessed.

That lawyer has been in contact with me. Although I don’t know him and can’t personally vouch for his credibility, as I can for Ms. Scholte and the other witness, the stories of all three are consistent. I have no reason at all to question anyone but Weldon, who is understandably and deservedly embarassed for his guest’s conduct. But he ought to be having words with the protagonist over that, not Suzanne Scholte. As for Suzanne, it’s no secret that she’s a friend and someone with whom I broadly agree on policy, but in the two years I’ve known her, I’ve always found her to be extremely rigorous with the truth. Opinionated? Yep. Suffers fools lightly? Nope. Credible and truthful? Yes, and there’s an affidavit I’d sign myself.

I have no personal knowledge of Weldon’s credibility, except, of course, for this incident. As for his reputation, others have certainly questioned it here, here, and here, where a political opponent links to a piece on Weldon’s presence at the Rev. Moon’s “coronation” ceremony).

There’s one more witness I almost forgot: Kim Seung-Min himself. Not to mention all the other defectors and “paparazzi” in earshot. One thing Weldon’s choice of that word proves is that he’s uniquely unqualified for the private practice of diplomacy. I suspect his disparagement of the reporters present will lead to a few more who might have sat this one out leaking the truth of the matter.

And of course, if any are interesting in leaking here–even on an off-the-record basis–I’d certainly be happy to oblige.