Recently, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy issued a so-called statement in denunciation of the military operation conducted by our army in response to the “Vigilant Storm”, the U.S.-south Korea aggressive war exercise against the DPRK. In this statement, he reportedly called for a “resolute and united response by the international community”, condemning our military operation as a “grave threat to international and regional peace and security”.

I cannot repress my indignation at the farce of issuing preposterous “statement”.

For a high-ranking politician representing Europe, it would be proper to grasp the essence of an international affair objectively and make remarks prudently, more than anyone else.

He seems to be deaf to the international society’s assessment that the U.S.-led provocative war exercises are the root cause of the aggravated situation on the Korean peninsula.

With incomprehension and prejudice against the essence of the Korean peninsula issue and double-dealing way of thinking running all over it, his statement is a repetition of the US’s harping on “threat to peace and security”.

When it comes to this High Representative, he is the very person who evoked strong criticism and protest of the international society for uttering discriminative and neo-colonialist phrase that “jungle could invade the garden”, describing Europe as a “garden” and other regions as “jungle”.

At that time, he made an excuse that he only cited the words by the U.S. neo-conservative politicians. By doing so, he laid bare himself that he is a person who parrots the U.S.’ words without his own opinion.

Experts are not exaggerating when they say that the “strategic independence” advocated by the EU is unlikely to be ever realized as long as there is such a person like him without independent opinion or principle.

I would like to ask him a question.

How can he term the military confrontation racket of the U.S., which posed a grave threat to the security of a sovereign state by bringing the strike group of the U.S. nuclear carrier “Ronald Reagan” and “B-1B” strategic bomber into the Korean peninsula, the hottest spot of the world?

Does he have a cheek to talk about “regional peace and security” while remaining silent about EU members’ act of inciting the tension on the Korean peninsula by selling all kinds of war equipment to south Korea in disregard of the 2008 common position of the Council of the European Union on prohibition of arms export to the areas of conflict.

If the High Representative is truly interested in maintaining the world peace and security, he should pluck up the courage and question the reckless military provocation of the U.S. – the root cause of the aggravated situation on the Korean peninsula.

Pak Myong Chol

Researcher of Korea-Europe Association