While we watch the unfolding crisis in Iraq, it is important to continue to keep one eye on the Korean peninsula, for developments there are likely to have a more immediate impact on the mainland and Hong Kong.
Today, Roh Moo-hyun assumes office as South Korea's fourth directly elected president since 1987. The inauguration, following a hard-fought campaign, marks a milestone in the country's march towards a mature democracy. Mr Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, took over the presidency five years ago, just as South Korea fell victim to the Asian financial crisis. To his credit, Mr Kim adroitly led the country through difficult economic reforms and now, South Korea's economy is once again sound.
Mr Roh assumes office at a time when South Korea is facing a crisis of a different, but no less serious, nature. The country is caught in its desire to improve its relationship with a North Korea with nuclear ambitions, a situation that could well jeopardise South Korea's alliance with the United States.
During the election campaign, Mr Roh benefited from rising anti-American sentiments, stemming to a large extent from an accident in which two South Korean teenage girls were killed by an American military vehicle. Mr Roh's rival for the presidency, Lee Hoi-chang, of the Grand National Party, was seen as conservatively pro-American and anti-communist.
Now that Mr Roh is president, his most urgent priority must be to repair the relationship with the US. You would expect him to know that South Korea's survival for the last half century had been due to the American military alliance, and that the alliance remains crucial to his country's continued survival.
And yet Mr Roh, even after the election, offered to 'mediate' in the dispute between the US and North Korea, as though South Korea was a disinterested party. It is vital for Mr Roh to begin to act like an ally of the US, not North Korea.