President Roh defends unification minister in trouble for anti-U.S. remarks

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday came out in support of his unification minister, Lee Jong-seok, who has been drawing criticism at home for a series of anti-U.S. remarks.

Minister Lee was harshly criticized by both ruling and opposition lawmakers for being diplomatically rude during a parliamentary committee session on Tuesday after saying in a television interview on the previous day that the United States, rather than South Korea, suffered the biggest policy failure as far as North Korea's missile launches were concerned.

Touching on Lee's remarks at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, President Roh said that a South Korean minister should not be blamed for saying U.S. policies were unsuccessful.

"I do not understand why a South Korean minister had to be reproached at the National Assembly for saying U.S. policies were a failure," the president said.

"Cabinet ministers are supposed to speak straight from their own conviction and belief and sometimes have to refute questions from lawmakers. The ministers should always be ready to answer questions such as, 'Then are you insisting on suffocating North Korea?,''Do you lawmakers think the U.S. is a faultless country?,' and 'Do you lawmakers believe South Korea should keep mum about policy mistakes by the U.S.?,'" Roh said.

Seoul, July 25 (Yonhap News)