South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's dismissal of his foreign minister drew widespread media criticism yesterday as his office tried to calm fears of a disruption in relations with the US.
There was no immediate word on a replacement for Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan, ousted on Thursday in a spat over criticism that his ministry had disregarded Roh policies that would shift Seoul away from traditional closeness to Washington.
The National Security Council (NSC), a presidential body whose officials advocating an "independent" foreign policy appeared to have prevailed over the Foreign Ministry's pro-US line, issued a statement stressing continuity in Seoul's ties with Washington.
"The personnel change in the Foreign Ministry will not affect Republic of Korea-US relations in any way," NSC spokeswoman Lee Ji-hyun said in a statement.
But the sudden departure of Yoon, a moderate career acad-emic, triggered a raging debate across editorial pages and in parliament over the wisdom of shaking up the foreign-policy team at a crucial time and over the philosophy behind the move.
South Korea and the US are striving to bring North Korea to the table for talks to resolve a crisis over its suspected nuclear arms programs. The diplomacy also involves China, Japan and Russia.
The dispute -- billed by local media as a battle between the "Alliance Faction" and the "Independence Faction" -- erupted late last year with media reports that professional diplomats had disparaged members of Roh's team as amateurish.
Mainstream newspapers said the diplomats could have been disciplined without the drastic and risky removal of Yoon.
They also questioned the Roh team's perception of national interest.
"Foreign policy must rest on cool-headed calculations of what would promote the national interest," said the centrist Joongang Ilbo newspaper in an editorial.
"But sadly, our reality is a dogmatic dichotomizing where alliance proponents are cast as anti-nationalistic and the proponents of an independent foreign policy as the patriots," the editorial continued.
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The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was seized and taken toward Iran and another — a cargo ship near Oman — sank after being attacked, authorities said on Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz. It was not immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the US. The turmoil in the strait has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the US and Iran to
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
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