A former senior official in President Bush's White House dropped a proverbial bombshell by asserting that the
United States and
South Korea have no coordinated plan to cope with a collapse of the North Korean regime of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il.
Victor Cha, who was director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff from 2004 to 2007, wrote: "In what would be the single most important contingency that could impact the South Korean economy and security for decades, there is no agreed-upon plan for how to deal with a collapsing
North Korea."
In an article in the
Chosun Ilbo, Cha blamed the former president of
South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, whose term ended in February. "The Roh Moo-hyun government," Cha said, "rejected planning discussions because it believed such discussions would offend
Pyongyang and give the impression the
U.S. and
Seoul were actively conspiring to collapse the regime."
[Excerpt of Opinion page by Richard Halloran, Honolulu Advertiser]
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