Is Victor Cha A Bad Candidate for US Ambassador to South Korea?

That is what this editorial in the Korea Times is claiming:

Victor Cha

This means that who the next U.S. ambassador to Seoul will be is ever more important. He or she should be communicative with Koreans and have Trump’s trust ― giving a nudge when the president wobbles and making sure it gets noted. In that sense, Victor Cha, a former Bush operative and professor at Georgetown couldn’t be a worse candidate, according to five people in the know.

Putting their suggestions together, the result is Cha, who would act as if he were Caesar the Conqueror, trying to get his way no matter what at the risk of a great deal of friction with the Moon Jae-in government. That would be possible and dangerous because he, if appointed, would exert influence at key junctures when his boss was distracted, and the North’s asymmetric threat will peak. Some say that it is better now without a resident at Habib House in Seoul than Cha in it.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at link, but basically since Cha is not a supporter of engagement with North Korea the academics the Korea Times spoke with think he is a bad choice for US ambassador.

From a military perspective something that I know Victor Cha has pushed for in the past is to have Seoul take over OPCON of Korean forces.  This is something that left wing ROK presidents wanted in the past and then when the US called their bluff on this issue they started playing delay games until a conservative president took power and put it off entirely.  I think Cha would probably also be a strong advocate for the ROK to pay more for the US-ROK alliance which is another key President Trump initiative.

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Tbonetylr
Tbonetylr
6 years ago

Why would S. Korea or any world leader ever want to talk to Trump?
He has f***ed it all up for Americans and future American presidents!
‘Leaked Trump transcripts show his incoherent, ill-informed narcissism.
The leak of conversations between the US president and the leaders of Mexico and Australia may well be a cry for help from within the administration’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/03/trump-transcripts-australia-mexico-narcissism
“Private discussions between world leaders are kept secret so they can speak their minds and establish trust. The leaks will make it harder for the US to carry out high-level diplomacy and resolve serious crises, not just under Trump but potentially far beyond his presidency…”

And what is Trump doing about the fentanyl being smuggled in from China?
And why is Trump cutting funds from the CDC?
Democrats criticize the leaking of transcripts of Trump phone calls.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/03/trump-called-new-hampshire-a-drug-infested-den-heres-whats-really-going-on-there/?utm_term=.123a8824d073
“I won in New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den,” President Trump told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in a phone call in January.”

But the drugs driving that spike are primarily produced not in Mexico, but in China. The synthetic opioid fentanyl and its derivatives are now the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire, according to official state statistics.

The CDC tracks fentanyl as part of the “synthetic opiate” category of narcotics. New Hampshire’s rate of 24 synthetic opiate deaths per 100,000 residents is roughly eight times of the national average of 3 per 100,000. New Hampshire in 2015 had more synthetic opiate deaths (285) than California (229), despite the fact that California is home to nearly 30 times as many people.

Official statistics from New Hampshire shows that in recent years, fentanyl deaths have exploded while heroin mortality has actually declined somewhat.”

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