Playing to the Crowd
Here's some excellent analysis of the latest goings-on in Japan, South Korea and China: Blame enough to go around in Northeast Asia.

This is what the authors have to say about South Korea's president:

South Korean President Roh Moh-hyun reversed the position of his predecessor and played to the crowd, launching a "diplomatic war" against Japanese claims to the islands. In an open letter to the South Korean people titled "With Regard to Recent Korea-Japan Relations", Roh concluded, "These moves nullify all the past reflection and apologies made by Japan." Roh’s domestic political agenda has been cast as a fight with former ruling elites over collaboration with the prewar Japanese imperial government in South Korea. His sudden, over-the-top escalation of rhetoric on Tokdo/Takeshima only makes sense in this context.

Say what you will about ex-President Kim Dae-jung, at least he never "played to the crowd."