 |
|
Pictured from the left are Jang Ha-sung, former Blue House chief of staff for policy, Blue House National Security Office Second Vice Director Nam Kwan-pyo, and Lee Seok-bae, South Korean consul general in Vladivostok.
|
Debate ensues over qualifications of appointed ambassador to China
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s nomination on Mar. 4 of new South Korean ambassadors to China, Japan and Russia – representing three of South Korea’s four major counterparts aside from the US – is being seen as signaling his commitment to re-establishing relations with those countries amid recent rapid changes in the situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula. But his nomination of Jang Ha-sung, former Blue House chief of staff for policy, as ambassador to China despite his lack of any diplomatic experience is coming under fire, with critics describing it as the Blue House “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” “Jang Ha-sung is an original member of the Blue House [under President Moon] since the beginning and has a high level of understanding of President Moon’s reunification, foreign affairs and national security policy,” a Blue House senior official said in a Mar. 4 telephone interview with the Hankyoreh. “It appears President Moon has made the decision that [Jang] is the right person to explain to the relevant countries about his vision for the Northeast Asian multilateral security cooperation system and elicit cooperation as progress is made in denuclearization with the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue,” the official said. A driving force behind the Moon administration’s “income-driven growth” and other economic policies, Jang previously stepped down last November amid controversy over frictions between him and the other major economic official at the time, former Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Dong-yeon. With his nomination to the position of Chinese ambassador, which was vacated when the former ambassador Noh Young-min became the presidential chief of staff, Jang’s return to officialdom comes four months after his previous departure from the Blue House. The Blue House reportedly took into account Jang’s background as an economist and his political “weight,” which would enable him to act responsibly in coordinating South Korea’s relationship with China. “China values relationships,” stressed another Blue House senior official. “The former ambassador Noh Young-min [a key associate of President Moon] is now the presidential chief of staff, and [Beijing] is going to regard it as top-level courtesy if the new ambassador is someone who was previously Blue House chief of staff for policy,” the official predicted. Jang’s lack of diplomatic experience and limited expertise in China But a debate is predicted over whether Jang is the right person to handle the complex diplomatic relationship between South Korea and China, given his lack of previous diplomatic experience. While he previously used sabbatical time as a professor to work as an exchange professor at Renmin University of China and Fudan University, he cannot really be seen as a China expert per se. In his Feb. 27 retirement as a professor at alma mater Korea University, he described himself as an “idealist” who “wants to live life as a boy foolishly chasing rainbows” – which observers interpreted as signaling plans to keep some distance from official positions. Jang’s immediate return to officialdom is expected to further fuel criticisms from the political opposition, which has been calling loudly for the abandonment of the income-driven growth he previously spearheaded. Lee Yang-soo, floor spokesperson for the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), commented, “Jang Ha-sung is the person who should bear chief responsibility for the Moon administration’s policy tyranny and economic catastrophe. Ahead of any talk of ‘diplomatic expertise,’ he is not qualified to be ambassador to China.” Selection of figures to bolster relations with Japan and Russia Blue House National Security Office Second Vice Director Nam Kwan-pyo, who has reportedly been tapped as ambassador to Japan, is a former diplomat with past experience working at the Japanese embassy. Within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he worked in the treaty bureau and other areas, with duties involving international law. With South Korea-Japan relations recently descending into conflict, the Blue House appears to be moving to address the situation by appointing someone with experience in both the Blue House National Security Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador to Russia Woo Yoon-keun, considered a key associate of Moon, was also reportedly included on the list of figures being replaced. As his successor, Moon plans to appoint Lee Seok-bae, South Korean consul general in Vladivostok– considered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ top Russia expert – in a bid to beef up cooperation with Moscow, sources said. By Kim Bo-hyeop and Park Min-hee, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
