Peace And War
Roh Moo Hyun takes office amid a nuclear crisis. Meet the man of this dangerous moment
March 3, 2003
By: Michael Schuman/Seoul

When Roh Moo Hyun, the new president of South Korea, was an impoverished 13-year-old farm boy in Bonsan, a tiny village of clay-and-thatch huts, an older, much bigger bully constantly pushed him around and called him names during his long trek through muddy rice paddies to school. One day, Roh decided he had enough. He enlisted the support of two friends and proclaimed, "We won't let him do it again!" When the bully next came around, the three small boys knocked him to the ground and kicked him. The humbled tyrant never bothered Roh again.

That early experience in coalition building may serve him well in the days ahead. But the bully Roh confronts today has a million-strong army and might possess nuclear weapons. What's more, Roh's friends these days have agendas of their own and may not be so easily enlisted.

Roh, 56, steps into South Korea's most important job at a critical juncture in his nation's history. An absolute novice in foreign relations who has barely set foot outside his homeland, he finds himself at the center of a global crisis as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il threatens to arm himself with nuclear weapons and turn the peninsula into "smoking ashes." Just last week the North warned that it might abandon the 1953 Korean War armistice, then sent one of its MiG-19 jet fighters for a provocative two-minute swoop through South Korean airspace. Meanwhile, a deep-seated dispute with the U.S. over how to defang Kim is eroding the traditional alliance that has been at the heart of South Korea's policy for the past 50 years. That alliance gets its first big test this week, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visiting Seoul for Roh's Feb. 25 inauguration and to discuss Kim Jong Il.

The diplomatic nightmare facing Roh (pronounced No) would unnerve even a seasoned statesman. North Korea wants the U.S. to promise not to attack it and is demanding direct talks with the Bush Administration. The U.S. says it wants multilateral talks and won't begin serious negotiations until the North dismantles its nuclear weapons program. Roh, the neophyte in this game of global brinkmanship, has cast himself in the role of peacemaker--even while his country is held hostage by the direct military threat from the North. So far, at least, he is sticking to the idea that aid, investment and negotiations will beguile the teetering North Korean regime into behaving like a responsible world citizen. "The Korean people believe...that only dialogue will bring a solution" to the nuclear issue, Roh says in an exclusive interview with TIME.

As Roh sees it, any action that could provoke Kim Jong Il to fight--economic sanctions, a surgical strike to take out nuclear reactors that provide fissile materials for bombs--is unacceptable. "If the Korean people believed sanctions and pressure could eliminate nuclear weapons without causing war," he says, "then Korean people will have a different thought." Since that's not the case, Roh asserts "we are going to have a hard time changing our position" that dialogue is the only "credible" option.

To Washington, that conciliatory stance smacks of appeasement, threatens to strip the U.S. of bargaining power and plays into Kim Jong Il's radiated hands. Likewise, opposition politicians in South Korea argue that cajoling and aiding the North merely perpetuates the misguided "Sunshine Policy" propounded by outgoing President Kim Dae Jung--an approach that has brought the country no closer to its dream of reunification with the North.

Roh, however, has his constituents, including young South Koreans who think their country should stand up to America--and who propelled him to a narrow victory in last December's elections. Roh the President is a symbol of a South Korea that's now emerging as a major economic power in the region and is eager to be treated as an equal partner with the U.S. on security matters, not as the protectorate it's been since the end of the Korean War. During his interview with TIME, Roh pointedly recalls the 1994 crisis in which the Clinton Administration contemplated attacking North Korea. "We learned later that North Korea and the U.S. were on the brink of nuclear war," he says, "and that would have meant a massive sacrifice on the part of the Korean people." This time around, he chides, "we need a closer cooperation and coordination with the U.S. government."

Roh's willingness to stand up to the biggest kids--or countries--has long been evident. As a human-rights lawyer, he made his mark in 1981 defending student activists tortured by dictatorial South Korean leaders who were propped up by the U.S. His own underdog upbringing and his fight for justice during South Korea's dark days may have contributed to his crystalline sense of right and wrong. Soon after he passed the bar exam in 1976, Roh asked his older brother Gun Pyung to turn in to the authorities a rifle that had been illegally purchased. When Gun Pyung refused to give up his prized possession, Roh sneaked into his brother's house, confiscated the gun and handed it over to the police himself. Gun Pyung says he was furious, but adds that his brother "would never lie."

This streak of starchy rectitude is belied by Roh's blunt but easygoing manner. During his interview with TIME, Roh frequently broke into a grin and never lost his cool. When he was grilled about his past of heavy drinking and spousal abuse, which Roh had described in a 1994 autobiography, his aides were aghast. But Roh patiently answered, saying he has only one glass of wine with dinner these days. Did his wife ever threaten to leave him? "It's a secret," Roh joked.

Yet even Roh's boosters question if he has the experience and credentials to handle an international crisis. Until now, his highest government post was a stint as Minister of Fisheries, and he has rarely set foot outside the country--he once traveled to Japan for sailing lessons. He has never visited the U.S., and in the past professed little interest in South Korea's most important ally. The two sides have not begun their new relationship smoothly. Roh's election was heralded with wild celebrations on the streets of Seoul that were less victory dance and more an outpouring of anger toward the 37,000 U.S. troops that guard Korean soil. The President-elect smooth-talked his way through the imbroglio, convincing demonstrators to tone down the invective and later reassuring skittish American businesses and investors that they remained on solid footing.

But more damage was done this month when he sent an inexperienced diplomatic team to Washington for talks on the North Korean crisis. One envoy proclaimed that a North Korea armed with an atom bomb was less scary than the prospect of the country falling apart--an assertion that led a U.S. observer to label the diplomatic mission "a freak show." The envoy later said his statements were misunderstood--and Roh insists he wants to start over. Powell's visit this week marks the first time high-level officials from both administrations have sat down to hash out a cohesive North Korea strategy. "I will do my best to remove the differences or disagreements" between Korea and the U.S., Roh vows. The U.S. might try to meet him halfway. A Western diplomat in Seoul, calling Roh's intention to continue engagement with Pyongyang "compatible" with U.S. thinking, says, "I don't believe Roh's instincts are fundamentally different from Bush's on this issue. No one wants North Korea to have nuclear weapons."

Still, even if an accommodation with Washington can be reached, Roh's policy toward North Korea might alienate a large part of the South Korean electorate. Critics say engagement with the North has produced neither improved economic ties nor a less warlike neighbor--it's more like institutionalized extortion payments. Advocates of the "Sunshine Policy" were dealt a particularly grievous blow in recent weeks with allegations that Hyundai Group, one of South Korea's biggest conglomerates, funneled $500 million to North Korea to secure business deals and help smooth the way for a landmark June 2000 summit in Pyongyang between South Korea's then President Kim Dae Jung and Kim Jong Il. Polls show 70% of South Koreans want a full investigation of the scandal--Roh initially supported an investigation but then changed his tack, saying the decision to launch a probe should be left to the country's National Assembly. "Right now, things are murky, opaque and full of things that raise suspicions," says Eom Ho Song, a lawmaker with the opposition Grand National Party. "I and other lawmakers strongly suspect North Korea used the money to build up its military."

Roh says he's not about to abandon engagement. If the South hadn't reached out to its neighbors, "North Korea would already have some nuclear weapons," he says. But he is making adjustments. He says he is changing the name of the "Sunshine Policy" to the "Peace and Prosperity Policy," and he promises that future aid payments will be made in the open instead of furtively. To Roh, there is no alternative to such engagement. There are fears in South Korea that a return to cold war-era diplomacy could lead to a sudden destabilization of the impoverished North. At best, that could mean refugees streaming across the Demilitarized Zone by the hundreds of thousands, throwing a wrench into South Korea's steadily advancing economy. At worst, some fear, it could mean the dying regime of a desperate Kim Jong Il lashes out militarily.

Roh's central role in this geopolitical tangle seems almost unimaginable, given his humble and decidedly parochial origins. After all, this is a man who married a childhood friend from his native village of Bonsan. But Roh shouldn't be underestimated because of his small-town background. Even as a young boy he had a formidable willingness to fight treacherous battles. As a seventh-grader, Roh persuaded his entire class to hand in blank sheets of paper in lieu of an assignment to write an essay on all the good that South Korean strongman Syngman Rhee had done for the country. Confronted by a furious teacher, Roh retorted that students shouldn't be forced to support a "corrupted election"--an answer that earned him a suspension from school.

After graduating from high school, Roh drifted between odd jobs, including work making fishing nets, before deciding to give law a try. He studied on his own for four years, spending part of the time in isolation in a mud hut he built on a hill overlooking Bonsan. In 1976, on his third try, he passed the notoriously difficult bar exam, then started a tax law practice. He was soon making real money, but he blew much of it on alcohol and yachting. When his wife would complain, he hit her. "A man needs three to four women. One for home, one for dancing, and one for discussing life and art," he joked in 1983.

In the early 1980s, Roh became increasingly involved in South Korea's pro-democracy movement, and his transformation into a human-rights hero began. The country's then dictator, Chun Doo Hwan, launched a ruthless crackdown on dissent when he seized power in 1980. The next year, another lawyer asked Roh if he would help defend some students who had been arrested without warrants in the southern port city of Pusan for reading banned books. Before the hearing, one of these young defendants showed Roh his toes, which had been bloodied during a police torture session. The sight changed his life, Roh says. He began fighting against the oppressive regime by defending student activists and union leaders. He also learned to treat his wife with greater respect. He recalls, "I realized that I was an oppressor--of my wife."

Roh first came to the country's attention when a newly elected President, Roh Tae Woo, had organized televised hearings into corruption and human-rights abuses by the Chun government. Roh, elected to parliament from Pusan in 1988, grilled the leaders of the former regime as millions of Koreans watched on television, dumbfounded and delighted by his no-holds-barred interrogation. In the 1990s he joined the inner circle of Kim Dae Jung's party, unofficially emerging as the President's successor.

Roh's brand of straight-talking, fearless independence seems to fit the national mood perfectly as South Korea strives to assert itself more confidently on the global stage. But he will inevitably rankle the U.S., which is keen to define a united strategy on North Korea. Under Roh, it seems, South Korea is unlikely to play the part of America's docile junior partner. Back in Bonsan, those who know him best are sure of Roh's ability to steer his country through these perilous waters. One day last year, confides his older brother, rice farmer Gun Pyung, a rare, golden pheasant fluttered into the courtyard of the family farm. It now lives in a pen there, on display for curious visitors from around the country. Gun Pyung is convinced that the pheasant--a symbol of power and wealth in South Korea--is a good omen for the Rohs. The bird's arrival "can't be pure coincidence," he says. "It must have been sent from heaven." It may be just the kind of luck Roh Moo Hyun needs. --With reporting by Donald Macintyre, Kim Yooseung and Hyebin Park/Seoul

INTERVIEW WITH ROH MOO HYUN
"I Will Do My Best to Remove the Differences"

The new President says he wants to work with Washington, but insists only dialogue can defang Pyongyang

As South Korea's new President, Roh Moo Hyun finds himself in the middle of Asia's gravest security crisis in over a decade. While Washington, Tokyo and Seoul struggle to come together on a coherent and consistent policy toward North Korea, Roh must also placate a constituency that wants continued engagement with a potentially nuclear North. Four days before his swearing in, Roh met in the offices of his presidential transition team with TIME Asia's editor Karl Taro Greenfeld, Seoul bureau chief Donald Macintyre and business correspondent Michael Schuman, admitting he was taking office at "a difficult moment." Here are excerpts:

DOES A NUCLEAR-ARMED NORTH KOREA FRIGHTEN YOU?

Yes.

WHY SHOULD SOUTH KOREA CONTINUE TO ENGAGE NORTH KOREA WHEN SO FAR THE RESULTS HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTING--AND WE MAY HAVE A NUCLEAR-ARMED NORTH KOREA?

I myself and all of the Korean people are firmly against North Korea's nuclear possession. On the other hand, in the process of stopping North Korea from having nuclear weapons we should not cause war, and we're concerned about that possibility. I don't think there are any other credible alternatives to dialogue because sanctions and pressure tactics can cause war.

WHAT ABOUT THE U.S. POSITION THAT DIALOGUE WITH NORTH KOREA AMOUNTS TO NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL?

I understand the anger and the fear that the American people harbor against North Korea, especially after the 9/11 terror. And I also understand the sentiment of the North Koreans. This is not a moral evaluation or punishment problem but a cold, rational issue.

WHICH COUNTRIES SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN SOLVING THE PROBLEM?

Japan, the U.S. and South Korea all have an interest in the North Korean problem. What is most important is how the Korean people view the seriousness of this problem. [In] 1994, we learned later that North Korea and the U.S. were on the brink of nuclear war. [In 1994, the last time a crisis erupted over North Korea's nuclear program, the Clinton Administration briefly considered a military strike to destroy Pyongyang's nuclear facilities.] And that would have meant a massive sacrifice on the part of Korean people. The ongoing process is too close, too similar to the process that went on in 1994.

HOW CAN YOU TAKE BOTH THE MILITARY OPTION AND THE SANCTIONS OPTION OFF THE BARGAINING TABLE?

I understand that my public statement that no military attack on North Korea is possible might limit the flexibility of the negotiation tactics toward North Korea, and I am concerned about this point. Therefore we need a closer cooperation and coordination with the United States government. As for the 1994 case, it left the Korean government very, very nervous.

WHAT MUST BE DONE TO ENSURE THAT WE WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR-ARMED NORTH KOREA TOMORROW?

I believe North Korea understands that you cannot both have nuclear weapons and opening up and economic prosperity at the same time. And I also believe that North Korea is aware that it must renounce its nuclear weapons in order to get a guarantee for international security and economic assistance. Chairman Kim Jong Il of the North has presented himself as the great leader in front of the North Korean people. I think that Chairman Kim Jong Il probably cannot appear defeated in the eyes of his people.

WILL YOU CONTINUE THE "SUNSHINE POLICY"?

I don't think there is a particular reason for my policy to be different from the former President's policy. I will try to improve the methodology by consulting with the opposition party and winning more approval of the people and increasing transparency of the process. Until I was elected I believed that the coordination between the U.S. and Korea was close, but after I was elected I found out myself that there have been some problems with the dialogue. I will do my best to remove the differences or disagreements. I heard that some people in the U.S. government are not satisfied with how [former President] Kim Dae Jung or myself are dealing with this situation, but please try to understand the following points--the situation was started by North Korea announcing its nuclear uranium-enrichment program. As the President-elect of Korea, I have been provided with the grounds that explains the likelihood that North Korea is undertaking the uranium project, but I have not received any firm evidence that it is actually going ahead with this. On the point of whether such a project exists or not, we respect the U.S. government opinion and follow it. Also, we have never questioned or denied the U.S. statement regarding the North Korean uranium-enrichment program. So there is no disagreement between our two countries except on the possibility of a military attack on North Korea. I think even our differences on this issue can be overcome through dialogue in the days to come. I don't think it's a good thing that the Americans are feeling regrets or are hurt that Korea is not following U.S. opinion on this situation.

WILL THE NAME OF THE "SUNSHINE POLICY" CHANGE?

We will term it the "Peace and Prosperity Policy."

AFTER FIVE YEARS OF THE "SUNSHINE POLICY," A LOT OF TALKING AND A LOT OF MONEY GOING TO NORTH KOREA, IS SOUTH KOREA IN A BETTER SECURITY SITUATION?

To better understand the achievements of the "Sunshine Policy" we have to think about what the consequences would have been if South Korea cut off dialogue and continued to exercise pressure on North Korea. Had we done so, North Korea would already have some nuclear weapons, or we would have faced a serious crisis, or the Korean people or other interested parties around the world would be living under a huge threat.

DO YOU HAVE DIRECT COMMUNICATIONS WITH NORTH KOREA? CAN YOU REACH HIGH-LEVEL NORTH KOREAN OFFICIALS?

Not yet.

IS THAT A GOAL?

Yes.

DO YOU HOPE TO HAVE ANOTHER SUMMIT WITH KIM JONG IL OR TRAVEL TO NORTH KOREA?

I would like to keep all the possibilities open.

DO YOU EXPECT U.S. TROOPS IN SOUTH KOREA TO BE REDUCED OR WITHDRAWN?

I have made it very clear many times that I want the U.S. forces to remain in Korea. The U.S. forces in Korea will not be reduced or pulled out. If [Washington] has such a plan, I hope the U.S. will consult with the Korean authorities and I hope that the U.S. will try hard to convince the Korean people before proceeding with such a plan. I saw some articles from American newspapers saying that if Korean people don't want U.S. troops then they can leave, but I think that it is an inaccuracy. Even the people who demonstrated in candlelight vigils never said they wanted U.S. troops to leave the country.

Testing Times When Roh Moo Hyun takes office on Feb. 25, he faces a slew of pressing policy issues and headaches at home and abroad

• NORTH KOREAN NUKES: Tension on the peninsula hasn't been this high in a decade as North Korea fires up its nuclear program and threatens war. Can Roh help defuse the crisis and bring Washington and Pyongyang to the bargaining table?
• THE ECONOMY: South Korea has been one of Asia's economic bright spots in recent years, but there are growing concerns that the North Korean nuclear crisis--and grassroots anti-American sentiment--will scare off foreign investment
• CHAEBOL REFORM: Roh wants to weaken the excessive power of large, family run conglomerates such as Samsung. That means getting them to play by a different set of rules
• FOREIGN RELATIONS: Roh wants South Korea to be an equal partner of the U.S. in defusing the North Korean threat. But he can't afford to alienate America, a crucial ally for the past 50 years
• POLITICAL ENEMIES: The conservative Grand National Party controls parliament and is set on thwarting Roh's plans, including what it sees as his policy of appeasement toward North Korea