Cheers all round for Obama in Korea
By Donald Kirk
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea - The United States Air Force lieutenant was
furious. How dare anyone ask questions of American troops without permission?
"This is a US base, and you have no right to interview people," the lieutenant,
who called himself a "public affairs officer", fumed when he saw this reporter
asking soldiers what they thought of the rousing remarks by their
commander-in-chief, US President Barack Obama, a few minutes earlier.
The lieutenant, though, need not have worried. The 1,000 or so airmen,
soldiers, marines and sailors who had just listened to Obama's remarks seemed
to have loved it. It was the noisiest reception of his six-day Asia swing - a
loud and ebullient send-off on Thursday after frustrating talks in Tokyo,
Singapore and Beijing
with Asian leaders that were long on courtesy but short on agreeing to much.
Obama spoke in words that applied immediately to the US's long-running
confrontation with North Korea, but his remarks also had implications for Iran,
as enunciated hours earlier in Seoul at his summit with South Korea's President
Lee Myung-bak. At this critical base 48 kilometers south of Seoul, the troops
massed in a warehouse facility near the airstrip - only a few minutes flying
time from North Korea - and repeatedly interrupted Obama with applause.
President Lee was just as enthusiastic. Among the leaders who hosted Obama
during his trip, only he had seemed unreservedly in favor of Obama's escalating
campaign to stop those two charter members of former US president George W
Bush's "axis of evil" - Iran and North Korea - from proliferating weapons of
mass destruction.
While battling to persuade all nations to enforce United Nations sanctions
against North Korea for this year's nuclear and missile tests, Obama chose the
meeting with South Korea's conservative leader to say he was pressing for new
talks with "our international partners" about measures to halt Iran's program
too.
Obama's remarks to the troops before boarding the Air Force One 747 waiting on
the landing strip provided a forum for enlarging on the message. "You are
helping to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction," he told his
cheering audience. "That makes us all more secure." He did not say whether
those weapons of mass destruction were North Korean or Iranian, but he did
remind the troops, "Many of you have served in Iraq," "others have served in
Afghanistan" - and "others among you may deploy yet again".
Were some of the troops destined to buttress US forces in Afghanistan? Obama
did not given any hints on his looming decision on whether to increase the
number of US troops in Afghanistan, but the message of a strong military
establishment provided the theme for a final day of success in Asia after
problems everywhere else on the itinerary.
Somehow, Obama seemed much more sure of himself in the friendly environment of
Korea than at any previous stage of a trip that had begun with uncertain talks
with Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and plunged into still more
frustration when he met China's President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao
before coming here.
Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan in August finally toppled the
entrenched, deeply conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has been highly
critical of the deal made three years ago to consolidate US bases on the island
of Okinawa rather than have some of the US Marines stationed there relocated to
Guam. Obama was lucky to have persuaded Japan of the need for a joint committee
to discuss the matter - a put-off that seemed far preferable to the Americans
than outright rejection of the earlier agreement.
In China, Hu was not at all open to Obama's pleas for measures to reform
China's currency and redress the yawning Chinese trade surplus with the US. Hu
may have been more sympathetic about US efforts to enforce UN trade sanctions
on North Korea and get North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear
weapons, but he clearly does not want to do anything that might destabilize the
North Korean regime.
Only in South Korea could Obama be sure of real agreement on America's role as
a superpower on fronts extending from Northeast Asia to the Middle East. First
with Lee and then here, he could speak at last in the unabashed language of a
leader of battle-ready troops. "I have no greater honor than serving as
commander-in-chief of the finest military the world has ever known," he said to
loud cheers. "The strong alliance we have," he went on to more cheers, "that's
the legacy you are carrying forward."
On a different level, Obama found equally common cause with Lee on getting
North Korea to give up its nukes. So doing, he was able to announce finally
that the US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, a former ambassador to
South Korea, would go to Pyongyang on December 8 to try to draw North Korea
back into the six-party talks that were last held in Beijing nearly one year
ago.
Implicit in definitive word on Bosworth's mission was the sense that North
Korea might well agree to return to multilateral dialogue on the promise of
two-way talks on the sidelines. US diplomats, in numerous visits with South
Korean at all levels, have apparently convinced Seoul that Bosworth will not
negotiate on North Korea's demands, ranging from massive aid to diplomatic
relations with the US, until the North has returned to the six-party process.
There will, the South Koreans are assured, be no US "sell-out", as they view
the failed deals made by Christopher Hill, the former US negotiator.
In return, Obama appeared to have won a measure of understanding from Lee on
the contentious issue of the Korea-US free-trade agreement, negotiated before
either of them became presidents of their countries but still in need of
ratification by the US Congress.
Lee, standing beside Obama in a joint press conference after their summit in
the Blue House, the center of presidential power, expressed his willingness to
talk over differences on motor vehicle exports. He made no promises, but that
remark was clearly an attempt to mollify the strong opposition of US
manufacturers to an agreement that they believe will open the floodgates to
ever more Korean vehicles on the American market.
"We can talk, and I think we can talk again," said Lee, softening the tone of
adamant opposition expressed by South Korean officials to reopening
negotiations on a deal they regard as done.
That said, differences over the free trade agreement appeared relatively minor
- and perhaps even soluble - compared to the overwhelming need to act in unison
on North Korea. The tone of the meeting of minds between Lee's concept of a
"grand bargain" and US calls for a "comprehensive package" contrasted with the
rancor that bubbled at or near the surface for the 10 years before Lee took
office in February last year when his two predecessors focused on
reconciliation with North Korea while North Korea went on developing - and
testing - nuclear devices.
No doubt at the urging of Lee's political organization, the conservative Grand
National Party, several thousand people lined the route of Obama's motorcade to
the Blue House where thousands had poured out daily for months last year to
protest the opening of Korean markets to US beef. US officials, and politicians
from western US states, made clear the beef market had to open up despite fears
of "Mad Cow" disease if the free-trade agreement was to have any chance at all.
The overall tone of Obama's reception in Korea contrasted with the rancor that
bubbled at or near the surface for the ten years before Lee took office early
last year. His two predecessors, Kim Dae-jung and then Roh Moo-hyun, focused on
reconciliation with North Korea while North Korea tested missiles and nuclear
devices - and the US alliance with South Korea appeared in jeopardy.
None cheered louder than the US troops gathered here, who were representative
of the 28,500 in South Korea. "America's commitment to the defense of the
Republic of Korea has never been stronger," Obama told them, and "our alliance
will never waver." That was a message that South Korea's leaders also cheered -
while waiting to see whether the US does not again fall for North Korea's
demands in the next round of negotiations.
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Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
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