Pathetic response

Moon blames main opposition for diplomatic blunder

President Moon Jaein's response to the leaking of his phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump has once again resulted in the impression that he lacks responsible leadership.

Rather than looking into the root cause of the problem, he blamed the main opposition for blowing the issue out of proportion and politicizing it.

During a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday, he apologized for the embarrassing diplomatic mishap; but he also blamed the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) for trying to justify the leak as serving the people's right to know the content of the phone conversation between the leaders of Korea and the U.S. He also said that he can work only with parties that put the people and national security first, not partisan interest.

Although he did not specifically mention the LPK, the remarks are widely seen as reflecting the President's rising discontent with the main opposition party. But such strong criticism of the LPK is ill-timed when considering that more people see the issue as part of the Moon administration's diplomatic incompetence.

It was particularly disappointing that Moon did not mention a more fundamental remedy to end the repeated diplomatic incidents under his administration.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a disciplinary committee meeting Thursday and decided to dismiss a counselor at the Korean Embassy in Washington who reportedly relayed the content of the Moon-Trump phone conversation to an LKP lawmaker. Disciplinary measures are also being considered for other officials involved in the leak. However, given the gravity of the case, punishing working-level officials is not enough.

Many people are wondering how this case will affect Foreign Minister Kang Kyungwha. Moon sent the foreign minister to Hungary to deal with a river accident that saw Korean casualties.

On top of various mistakes that undermined some of the President's trips abroad, heads and officials of Korean missions have continued to appear in the news for allegations of inappropriate behavior, including power abuse or sexual misconduct.

The "phone leak" is the latest in a series of blunders by the foreign ministry that have hampered the credibility of Korea's diplomacy. Many people believe that it's past time for Moon to consider a replacement to improve Korea's failing diplomacy and prevent any more lapses at the ministry's headquarters as well as missions abroad.