Kim Dae-jung visit to U.S. enhances image

By Edward Neilan

Washington shows maturity in Korea policy, naivete toward China, helplessness toward India and Pakistan after nuclear explosions.

STANFORD, California (JP): South Korean President Kim Dae- jung's recent visit to the United States was masterful in the subtlety and nuance of its message.

Kim's traveling suit was woven with threads of democracy, nationalism and commitment to market economy.

As such the president's visit was particularly well-received in places like the CEO offices of Intel and Hewlett-Packard which he visited in Silicon Valley. Both firms are planning large new high-tech investments in South Korea.

It is ironic that just as new investment is being finalized which will help South Korea's ailing economy, there are calls for relaxing the tough stance against North Korea in terms of military deployment. Kim has made some noises about showing North Korea a little more carrot and less stick, some academic specialists at Stanford and Berkeley are saying much the same thing and even Clinton administration officials posing as Korea experts are leaning toward the "less tough" viewpoint.

The irony comes into play because both Intel and Hewlett- Packard feel more secure if those 37,000 American troops stay right where they are on the traditional invasion route. The United States has misread the Korean Peninsula before and any pullback or relaxation shoud be cautious.

American policy, often lambasted, should be praised for the very presence of Kim as president and visitor to the U.S. The cycle of democratic development, economic and educational reform espoused by the United States for so long have paid off.

Kim, as an oppositionist, has carried the democratic script full circle. As in Japan and Taiwan, American policies have been vindicated and hopes fulfilled. Let the record show that on another matter -- nuclear weapons development -- these three nations have shown themselves to be true friends of the United States.

Tokyo, Taipei and Seoul all have the know-how to build nuclear bombs and each began to think about building or actually started programs in the past. Uncle Sam's firm request that such plans be scrapped were heeded in each case. That means the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" must be extended in perpetuity to those states.

The same can not be said for China, India and Pakistan.

But it is not an American show. Kim is that rare bird who has gone from ultimate political outsider to the man at the top the heap. It has been my great pleasure to have known him through the ups and downs, including a luncheon at his home when he was under house arrest.

The bulgogi (barbecue beef) and kimchi taste differently with armed guards and tanks outside the door.

Here was a man saved from final oblivion by President Ronald Reagan's intercession with Korean President Chun Doo-hwan -- some say the price was a Chun visit to the U.S. -- but who still couldn't gain an invitation to the U.S. Ambassador's Fourth of July party because of political mistrust on the part of many Koreans and many Americans.

Kim Dae-jung, they said, was part flake and part crypto- communist. He couldn't win an election outside of Cholla-namdo and Cholla-pukto provinces, they said.

He proved a lot of people -- north, south, east and west -- to be wrong.

China should be so low-key. Let's hope China can produce a situation and some leaders that show the same relentless quest for democracy as Kim Dae-jung has done in Korea.

The writer is a Tokyo-based analyst of Northeast Asian affairs and a Media Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, California.