YONHAP NEWS

Roh disgraced at tree-planting ceremony in Pyongyang

   By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- The office of President Roh Moo-hyun has come under fire for lying about a humiliating incident during Roh's trip to North Korean trip last October for his summit talks with the North's leader Kim Jong-il.

   A vernacular newspaper disclosed on Thursday that the South Korean summit delegation was forced to cancel its plan to install Roh's inscribed stone slab in front of a commemorative tree planted by the president at a botanic garden in downtown Pyongyang on Oct. 4, due to the objection of North Korean authorities over the size of the stone weighing 250 kilograms.

   North Korean officials opposed the installation of Roh's commemorative stone, contending that giant stone monuments on North Korean soil can be erected only in the name of its leader and his deceased father, Kim Il-sung, according to the report carried by the Munhwa Ilbo.

   Yielding to the North's opinion, the embarrassed South Korean delegation brought the giant stone slab back to Seoul, the report said. The Seoul government then made a new, smaller version of Roh's commemorative stone weighing just 70 kilograms and sent it to Pyongyang via its spy chief Kim Man-bok on the eve of the presidential election last December. Kim Man-bok later resigned as chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), taking responsibility for leak of some controversial NIS documents.

   Dismissing the Muhwa Ilbo story as groundless, presidential spokesperson Cheon Ho-seon told reporters in a media briefing on Thursday afternoon that the South Korean delegation "voluntarily" brought back the commemorative stone slab, because North Korean leader Kim failed to show up at the tree-planting ceremony. Instead of the reclusive leader, the North's titular head of state Kim Yong-nam attended the ceremony.

   Cheon also claimed at the briefing that the 250-kilogram stone slab inscribed with names of both Roh and North Korean leader Kim was rendered "useless" because of Kim's absence at the ceremony.

   Contrary to Cheon's claim, however, the original commemorative stone turned out to have Roh's name alone inscribed, according to its photo disclosed by the vernacular JoongAng Ilbo in its Friday edition.

   In photos of the original and substitute stone slabs, only Roh's name is inscribed and the occasion of his tree planting is described simply as his Pyongyang visit, instead of the holding of the inter-Korean summit.

   The plaque of the original commemorative stone, now in custody of the NIS, reads,"In hope of a unified nation, Republic of Korea President Roh Moo-hyun, October 2007, Pyongyang." The plaque of the substitute slab, installed by former NIS chief Kim, reads,"In hope of a unified nation, Republic of Korea President Roh Moo-hyun, in commemoration of his visit to Pyongyang on Oct. 2-4."
"I'm sorry to have given wrong information on the incident in Pyongyang last October. It was not intentional," Cheon told reporters, commenting on the media reports.

   Roh, set to retire on Feb. 25, will be succeeded by conservative president-elect, Lee Myung-bak, who has vowed to take a hard-line stance against North Korea's nuclear programs.

   ycm@yna.co.kr
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