What does South Korea’s president, Roh Moo-hyun, regard as “the most important task facing the nation” at this juncture? He has plenty to choose from. De-fanging North Korea, of nukes and more, surely tops anyone’s list. Or relatedly, handling increasingly tetchy ties with the United States – whose new plan to withdraw one-third of its 37,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula by end-2005 means Roh’s avowed quest for a more independent defense stance had better get into gear, fast.