Mercurial Politics Watch: Light Entertainment for a Long Year
I didn’t bother fisking President Roh’s latest attack of the vapors, because I didn’t have to.
“It’s evident that any missiles North Korea fires won’t target South Korea. So why should the government step forward and tell people to stock up on instant noodles and buy gas masks in preparation for missile attacks from the North?” Referring to parliamentary confirmation hearings of ministers-designate who were asked what caused the Korean War, he complained that lawmakers evidently take him for a man who would appoint ministers who don’t know if it was an invasion by North or South. But, he insisted, “I am sane.”
Roh also accused the U.S. of a hand in getting him down. “Those who send danger signals in the U.S. are involved in a program to depress my spirits. He said they are making him miserable with their attempts to “teach him a lesson” and their constant signals that the Korea-U.S. alliance is going to the dogs.
I know what you’re thinking: it’s going to be a long year. Actually, it’s going to be even longer. We’ve known for a long time that the Uri Party was headed for the trash heap, Roh Moo Hyun’s desperation to preserve it notwithstanding. The result of this “emergency meeting” between Comrade Chung and Kim Geun-Tae will be a proposed new far-left political party (kukmin-ui shin dang, New Peoples’ Party), one that’s too far to the left for even the noisily irrelevant Roh Moo Hyun. We can expect plenty of gratuitous America-bashing from these two, both before and after the moment when they turn on each other. But at least we’ll get a clear national referendum on this party’s politics, which Washington ought to read that result as if it were a biopsy on that foreign mass growing inside the head of Korean society.
Your postings are riotiously hilarious. Of course, the subject matter simply lends itself. Keep it up and best wishes for the new year.
He’s revealing too much of the Corean machination. Someone’s going to assassinate him before he spills too many beans.
“It’s evident that any missiles North Korea fires won’t target South Korea. So why should the government step forward and tell people to stock up on instant noodles and buy gas masks in preparation for missile attacks from the North?”
This from the same Roh who have consistently said that he must appease KJI to avoid war.
What really pisses me off about Roh is that he is so incompetent that he can’t even keep his lies straight. He doesn’t tell people to buy gas masks because it won’t help them. That’s the bottom line. It’s not because he thinks that KJI won’t use chemical weapons, it’s because gas masks won’t help them against nerve gas that goes right through your skin. Full body chemical suits also pose problems, because you won’t have it on you when they actually attack. And of course, you need training to use it properly. As for Ramen noodle, this won’t make a big difference. Human beings can live a long time without food. But clean water could pose problem.
He probably says what he says to avoid panic. But his justification for appeasement has been to avoid war with NK. He should do himself a favor and stop talking to journalists.