President Lee Myung-bak reportedly blew his top over the recent mishandling of a controversial treaty with Japan by his Cabinet on Monday. His anger was supposedly targeted at those who had decided not to make public the Cabinet approval of the treaty on the exchange of confidential security information.

According to a news report, Lee said the relevant government agencies should have had a process of building a public consensus in favor of the treaty, instead of putting it as an urgent secret agenda item for deliberation and approval by the Cabinet. Lee may have a legitimate grudge, given that the treaty was dealt with when he was on a diplomatic mission abroad.

Even so, he would have projected a better image for himself as the nation’s leader if he had said: “The buck stops here.” By passing the buck, however, he fueled the public uproar over the proposal to share confidential security information with Japan and further alienated himself from the political community during his final year in power.

As a consequence, the General Security of Military Information Agreement is all but derailed. Now the question is whether or not he was kept out of the loop when the treaty was being pushed through the Cabinet.

His leadership was damaged either way when the signing of the treaty, which did not require ratification by the legislature, was canceled at the last minute. His grip on pending sensitive issues would be called into question if, as he insinuated, he did not know what his Cabinet was doing with the treaty. On the other hand, his honesty would be at stake if he pretended not to know about it.

But a more fundamental question was why he underestimated the deep-rooted antipathy that Koreans had against Japan. Or, was he naive enough to believe the public would somehow tolerate the proposed exchange of confidential military information with the past colonial occupier?

Lee said the relevant government agencies would now have to explain to the National Assembly and the public in detail why the treaty is needed for national security ― a remark seen to indicate that his administration would have the treaty signed following what it regarded as a politically proper procedure.

But that is not such a good idea. It is not just the main opposition Democratic United Party that is opposed to his idea of pursuing the treaty anew. Quite a few lawmakers affiliated with the ruling Saenuri Party believe that the next administration will have to take up where the Lee administration leaves off, as it should do now.

Lee will have to look squarely around himself now if he wishes to control the damage. During his early years in office, he used to promise that he would not lapse into lame-duck status until the final day of his presidency. But his power is fast slipping through his fingers as he is now limping toward the finish line.

A good reminder is that the prosecutors’ office, which once seemed to be at his beck and call, has now started to take action against his older brother, Lee Sang-deuk, a former lawmaker, who wielded enormous power until recently. No one knows who its dagger will point at next.

The signing of the treaty is not the only thing that Lee is urged to stop promoting. There is a long list of things his administration should not do during the short remainder of his five-year presidency, which ends next February. It includes:

― The sale of the state-run Incheon International Airport’s shares. A bill on the sale did not pass because of strong opposition during the previous National Assembly. The administration vows to renew it.

― The privatizing of Woori Bank. Rumor has it that KB has been chosen to take over Woori Bank, though KB denies it.

― The 8.3 trillion won project to buy the next generation of jet fighters. The administration vows to select the model by October.

It will have to hand the big-ticket projects over to the next administration if it does not want to spawn untoward suspicions. Many are already asking what motives lie behind the push for these projects.