More on the Timing of Korea’s Iraq Announcement

‘Diplomacy, Korean Style.’ I can’t write a better headline than the Chosun Ilbo, which fills in some details on the Korean government’s Iraq announcement.

At a summit with the Korean president in Gyeongju last Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush thanked Korea for its dispatch to Iraq of over 3,000 troops, and described it as an expression of Korea-U.S. friendship. The very next day, however, the plan to curtail the unit by 1,000 troops was decided in a discussion between the ruling party and the Defense Ministry, and reported in the press.

“The announcement came a day after Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, where Bush thanked Roh for the Korean contribution, saying its goal was to “˜help democracy flourish,'” the Washington Post wrote.

Knowing those additional facts, if I had to guess–and I just have to–I’d say that someone in the ROK government deliberately leaked this with the intention of embarassing the POTUS.