S. Korea Names Career Diplomat as Foreign Minister

South Korea on Friday named a veteran diplomat, Ban Ki Moon, as foreign minister in an effort to calm infighting within the government over how closely to toe the U.S. line in international relations.

The appointment of Ban, 59, a soft-spoken moderate who has served as presidential foreign policy advisor for 11 months, is expected to soothe anxiety within the conservative establishment over the resignation Thursday of Yoon Young Kwan as foreign minister.

Yoon’s abrupt departure was widely seen as a victory for the more anti-American forces within the administration of President Roh Moo Hyun. But South Korean officials Friday hastened to reassure the public that the change of foreign ministers would not impair the traditional alliance with the United States.

“I’m sure this is not going to affect our relations with our allies,” National Security Advisor Ra Jong Il said Friday during a hastily called dinner with foreign journalists.

Jeong Chan Yong, a presidential aide, issued a statement to the Korean press saying: “We expect [Ban] will be able to handle the tasks ahead smoothly, based on the confidence of friendly nations.... He will have the ability to exercise diplomatic capabilities on the international stage based on ample understanding of the participatory government’s diplomatic vision.”

Roh, who took office last February, campaigned on a populist platform in which he promised to constantly seek input from the electorate and not to “kowtow” to the United States in foreign relations.

Although government officials are trying to spin the dispute as a power struggle rather than an ideological split, the Korean press has characterized it as a rift between an “independent” faction and an “alliance” faction of pro-U.S. diplomats. Among the specific issues were the questions of South Korea sending troops to Iraq to aid the U.S.-led occupation and whether to follow the Bush administration’s hard line on North Korea.

The spat that led to the foreign minister’s resignation arose when career diplomats in the ministry publicly criticized Roh and his advisors as too anti-American. Yoon took responsibility for failing to control them. Several diplomats in the North American division of the ministry are expected to be sacked over the next few days.

The conservative South Korean newspaper Chosun Daily, in an editorial Friday, accused Roh Moo Hyun of carrying out a “cultural revolution” in attempting to purge diplomats who worked too closely with the United States.

“This view within the ruling camp has infiltrated the foreign policy that will determine the country’s destiny. Its ideas are extremely dangerous,” said a Chosun editorial published on its English-language website.

The newspaper this week cited a poll taken Jan. 5 in which 39% of South Koreans surveyed saw the United States as the biggest threat to their security, while 33% chose North Korea. China and Japan ranked third and fourth, respectively.