President Roh in the Headlines

President Roh has made plenty of headlines in Korea in the last 24 hours.  First of all North Korea released an official message thanking various world leaders for providing flood relief in the aftermath of the floods that hit North Korea this summer.  Guess who they failed mention?:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has extended thanks to the leaders of 11 countries for their help in flood relief efforts, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, but the name of President Roh Moo-hyun was not included.

"He expressed deep appreciation for their sincere sympathy and warm-hearted comfort," the Korean Central Broadcasting Station said. [Yonhap]

Yes that is right, Roh Moo-hyun who is the world’s largest North Korea apologizer and aid provider couldn’t even get a message of thanks from Kim Jong-il.

Next Roh was making headlines because he says he won’t raise the nuclear issue with Kim Jong-il during the upcoming inter-Korean summit:

President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday that a Korean Peninsula peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War will be the most important agenda item at his summit summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il slated for Oct. 2-4 in Pyongyang. […]

In a hastily arranged news conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Roh, meanwhile, said he won’t raise the issue of the North’s denuclearization seriously at the upcoming inter-Korean summit, noting the nuclear issue has already been in the process of rapid settlement at the six-party talks which also involve the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. [Yonhap]

It is pretty clear now why Roh was so pissed off at President Bush during the APEC meeting because he wanted to center his legacy around being the Korean leader that officially ended the Korean War.  This may be why the inter-Korean summit was delayed so Roh could try and pressure Bush during the APEC meeting to sign a peace treaty with North Korea before they denuclearize.  There is no way Bush or any American president is going to sign a peace treaty with North Korea before denuclearization.  It would be political suicide.  The end of Roh Moo-hyun can not come any sooner for Korea because he needs to go before he causes irrepairable damage to the US-ROK relationship. 

In further inter-Korean summit news, Roh Moo-hyun will not bring up human rights for North Koreans either:

The National Human Rights Commission held a meeting on Monday of all 11 members and vetoed the idea of recommending that President Roh Moo-hyun includes North Korea’s human rights violations on the agenda of the summit with the communist country set for next month. [Chosun Ilbo]

But get this, the NHRC was against the Zaytun deployment to Iraq because they felt it would violate the human rights of Iraqis.  I guess building toilets for Kurds is more of a human right violation than holding hundreds of thousands of people in slave labor gulags. 

Finally Roh made headlines with the removal of his policy planning secretary Byeon Yang-kyoon due to a "close relationship" between him and the disgraced Dongguk University assistant professor Shin Jeong-ah who was exposed as using fraudulent degrees to earn her position:

The prosecution said they have found e-mails that showed Byeon and Shin were personally close, but refused to disclose the content. “We do not disclose private matters which are not directly related to a crime,” they added.  Cheong Wa Dae, which accepted Byeon’s resignation, said Byeon had “close ties” with Shin.  A prosecutor said the two exchanged about “100 love letters,” some of which contained “explicit lines.” [Kim Rahn, Korea Times]

It has not been a good week Roh Moo-hyun, but his upcoming World’s Most Expensive Photo Op should make him feel better as "peace and prosperity" is just around the corner according to Roh.