“Betting against the US”
The Democratic Party announced on December 8 that US Vice President Joe Biden’s “betting” remark during his meeting with President Park Geun-hye would remain the rudest words in the history of talks between officials of the two countries.
Democratic Party spokesperson Park Yong-jin called into question the Vice President’s “It’s never been a good bet to bet against America” remark in his National Assembly briefing on that day. “It sounds like a provocative comment against China or a blatant warning against the Korean government and the Korean people at large, no matter how positive the interpretation is,” he said. The spokesperson went on, “If the intent of the sentence is the latter, it will be the rudest comment in the history of summit diplomacy between the two nations since former President George Bush referred to former President Kim Dae-jung as this man.”
He added, “The problem under the circumstances is whether or not the Korean government is in determined pursuit of Korea’s national interests.” He continued, “Although the United States can say something about the behavior of its allies for its own national interest, not a single one of our people does not want to see the Korean government blindly follow its strategy without any long-term vision amid the hegemonic competition among superpowers. That is, the United States must bet on its national interests and Korea on its own as well.”
In the meantime, both Korean and US governments explained on December 7 that such a misunderstanding came from the misinterpretation of English to Korean.