With all the shakeups going on over at the Blue House, why hasn’t Minister of Unification Jeong Se-hyeon been sacked yet? The guy’s simply out of control:
“The U.S. says that the North Koreans have made progress with the enriched uranium program, but the North Koreans deny that,” Jeong said. “If North Korea is forced to admit [to the uranium program], it would affect their pride. That would not be an effective way to go about this. We need to work out an arrangement.”
Jeong, who heads the ministry in charge of the long-term goal of unifying the two nations divided after the Korean War, emphasized the need to work with the North through policies of active engagement.
Oh not, not the “pride” and “face” crap again. Look, the North Koreans have had absolutely no concern whatsoever for the “pride” and “face” of fellow East Asian states South Korean and Japan, let alone those of the Americans, who, it would seem, are without “pride” or “face.” But that’s neither here nor there. North Korea got caught with its hand in the uranium enrichment cookie jar, in flagrant violation of both the ‘94 Agreed Framework and ‘91 declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Yes, the U.S. delayed implementation of the ‘94 Agreement, but there is a clear difference between “delaying implementation” of an agreement and “secretly working on a project that renders said agreement dead.” I have to agree with Victor Cha on this one — engagement with North Korea may have made sense before the revelation of its HEU program, but now, it’s nothing more than appeasement of bad behavior. What Jeong wants is the U.S. to work on a separate agreement with the North to cover a program that was already covered under agreements in ‘91 and ‘94. That’s simply insane — the precedents set by those agreements were, in the estimate of some, bad enough. To actually reward the North for secretly developing HEU technology would simply confirm to P’yongyang (if it hasn’t been confirmed already) and other like-minded regimes around the world that breaking agreements and artificial crisis generation pay, and pay well. The fact that engagement is taking place right now, despite the North’s HEU program, is probably giving the North way too much — the abandonment of that program should have been a prerequisite for any further engagement, assuming the North values the goodies said engagement has brought. To further compound that by actually agreeing to pay the North for its HEU program is, simply put, beyond consideration.
(Hat tip to Kevin at IA)
4 Comments
Another sad thing about Korea is when notes like this don’t even make you shrug. When it gets to the point that the absurd doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. The Joongang Daily ran an editorial that also called for the nuclear programssssss to be ignored because there is still hope for making a deal on the one programmmm (minus the “s”).
South Korea’s policy is this: publicly denounce NK’s nukes, but privately ignore them.
The Unification Minister is only at fault for saying what the real policy is on occasion.
And Marmot, you’re absolutely correct. The North Koreans have never cared about “pride” or “face,” or any of that bullshit. When NK goes to the negotiating table, it’s all about extortion and they will easily backtrack to get a better deal.
What you’ll see at the next talks is NK using this new uranium business to their advantage by differentiating it from the plutonium program, as if the end result isn’t the same, and if it’s brought up at all that’s just the excuse they need to walk–like if Japan mentions the kidnappings. It’s also smooth how Jeong has turned this into a US-nork conflict with no mention ever of SK’s “policy” toward the North (which is appeasement anyway). The main issue for the South is just to avoid all responsibility for as long as possible.
I know you don’t read the Korea Herald, but editorial out on its on-line edition is parroting what Jeong Se-hyeon is saying. The title reads “Saving the North’s face” The money in this eddie is written up as “maintaining flexibility in a step-by-step approach giving the North some ground to save its face before making concessions.” The whole article can be found at this address. http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/S.....240010.asp