[Editorial] "I Don`t Know" Spokeswoman and Unreasonable North Korean Regime

It`s regrettable the North Korean regime unilaterally put off the scheduled meetings between the two Koreas. More absurdly, the isolated regime faked up an excuse of the allegedly heightened military alert level, accusing us of trying to stab them in the back. It is pity to see Kim Joung Il stretching his back to dump the responsibility onto us with a baseless allegation.

Standing off with the United States over its nuclear ambition, the North Korean regime would not feel at ease at all seeing the marching US forces and its blanket bombing on Iraq. Kim Jong Il may feel the "shock and awe" second-handedly that is shaking the whole Iraq from its root. Nevertheless, it is stupid to shut off the channel of dialog. The lesson the isolated regime should learn from the war is how to resolve the current crisis it has sparked before things get worst.

The more dire the situation, the more it should talk with us. Should it really intend to relieve the tension over the Korean Peninsula, it is the right moment it should sit and talk with us. Now, people point to the possibility that a war might break out here on the peninsula. The situation is so urgent that it leaves North and South no room for raising the tension higher. The regime should consider what impacts its absurd refusal to talk would have on the Roh administration that is stressing the peaceful resolution of the nuclear standoff.

The regime knows that Blue House spokeswoman Song Kyung-hee did make a huge mistake in announcing the alert level was raised. Nonetheless, it refused to talk with us allegedly for our military action, which in fact did not happen at all. What is in the mind of Kim Jong Il? Is he trying to do something else? If the reaction of the North had arisen out of misunderstanding, then dialog is as much more needed to straighten it out.

Spokeswoman Song cannot deny her responsibility for this mishap. Knowing nothing about the army, she confirmed a sensitive issue, giving a justification to the North Korean regime for its unilateral action. Ignorance of the national security issues poses a great huddle to her in performing the very importance task of speaking for and on behalf of the president. She has made South Koreans worrisome with her woeful reactions to sensitive issues. She has kept saying, "I don`t know. I don`t know. I don`t know…"

President Roh has declared that he would wage a war on incorrect reporting. Now, we are holding out, waiting for his reaction to the incorrect reporting by his own spokeswoman.