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| U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the embassy, Dec. 23. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Oh Young-jin
U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris made some memorable and quotable remarks during his 45-minute interview with The Korea Times last week. Here are some.
"I am American ambassador to Korea, not the Japanese American ambassador."
The former U.S. Pacific commander and admiral spoke not out of frustration but as a matter of fact, responding to suspicions of some Koreans that his Japanese heritage might make him biased in Japan's favor and influence a U.S. stance on matters related to Korea and Japan. He was born to a U.S. military man and a Japanese mother in Japan and he was the first person of Asian descent to lead the Pacific Command.
He said that while serving as Pacific commander, China also once accused him of favoring Japan regarding his stance on Beijing's hegemonic moves in the South China Sea. He said that not in the U.S. or elsewhere had his eth-nicity been made an issue during his career.
He did not say whether he had expected his background to come up during his ambassadorial tour in Korea, but obviously he felt its impact acutely as he was one way or another involved in matters resulting from Korea-Japan acrimony originating from Japan's 36-year colonial occupation. Korea's threat to pull out from the Korea-Japan military intelligence pact or General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) came in a tit-for-tat move against Japan's restrictions slapped on sensitive export items to Korea. Japan's trade restrictions stemmed from Korea's Supreme Court decision to force Japanese conglomerates to compensate surviving South Korean workers commandeered for Japan's World War II effort. Harris spearheaded the U.S. effort to keep Korea in the pact that it sees as integral to the Seoul-Washington-Tokyo alliance to corral China's growing power.
"I am not going to grade his (Trump's) homework for you."
Harris made this response when asked if he agreed with his boss President Donald Trump's description of Korea as a "freeloader" on the U.S. for defense and prosperity without paying its dues. The U.S. ambassador said he did not use the term and called Korea an ally and friend that shared a common interest in safeguarding peace on the Korean Peninsula. But this did not mean he disagreed with his boss in his effort to increase the allies' share of U.S. troop maintenance costs or bills for using U.S. deterrence. Rather, he defended Trump for trying to achieve a "more equi-table balance" in sharing the burden, as this effort applied also to Japan and NATO in Europe the same as to Korea.
"Nor am I going to share with you what's on the table."
I know what you think — being taken out of context, this sounds as if Harris were stingy enough not to share any-thing with anybody. But this was said in reply to the question whether the use of force was on the table regarding U.S. options against the North's possible test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as a "Christmas gift" it had threatened to send. The North had passed the holiday without any provocative gift. The quote follows Harris' obser-vation that he would not speculate on the use of force. He also talked about the rising of tension between the U.S. and the North that many feared might result in war before the dramatic resolution after the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
Also, when we invited him for a meal, he said he would be happy to join. That has increased the chance of him sharing with us what is on the table.
"If President Trump believes that, that is the position of the United States."
This is harder to say in public than one might think. Trump has been derided for what many see as his parochial expression of American interest — a departure from the example set by his predecessors who led the U.S. in the con-text of global affairs and mocked for egotistic behavior that did not care for other people's concerns. Besides, Trump is in trouble for being the third U.S. president to be impeached for allegedly using military aid to force a foreign country to help his re-election bid. If he had been a career diplomat (not being one is the reason Harris can be blunt), would he so clearly state his loyalty?
"I would not say ‘friendly.'"
Harris denied my description of the Moon Jae-in government as being friendly toward North Korea. Some would go further than I did as anti-Moon factions called him pro-North Korean or leftist or worse. Harris said that in try-ing to improve the chance of dialogue with the North, Moon's policy was not a function of government but a func-tion of opportunity. Simply put, Moon is using it when it has a chance while some of his predecessors had no oppor-tunity so they did not have a chance to implement it. Maybe Harris is trying to be nice to the Moon government amid cat calls from Moon critics, but it may reflect a general U.S. view of Moon. If the latter were true, it would mark a departure from what is often believed to be the Washington consensus about Moon, his North Korean view and his China approach.
Oh Young-jin (foolsdie@gmail.com, foolsdie5@koreatimes.co.kr) is director of content for The Korea Times.
