Keeping tabs on the American press regarding the current crisis, I’m hearing a lot of BS that dosn’t really seem to make sense. I mean, take a look at this:
Talks must switch from Pyongyang’s intentions and weapons to the shape of a reunified Korea. The basis would be Pyongyang’s longstanding suggestion of a Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo and Seoul’s similar idea of a Korean National Community. Reunification would be seen as a process offering a number of open-ended paths to One Korea.
I’m sure this made sense to the writer at the time, but to me as the audience living in Korea, it sounds like a bunch of you-have-no-idea-what-you’re-talking-about,do-you? Forcable unification through war or collapse? Maybe. But does anyone really think some pie-in-the-sky idea of let’s just hold hands and sing “Qumbya” around the campfire is really going to work? Is anyone paying attention?
13 Comments
You do realize that you are talking about the official policy of the last two administrations in the Blue House, don’t you?
(Sorrry about the double post.)
Also, I would love nothing more than for Bush to say something like “We fully support Korean reunification as quickly as possible and will work towards this goal in consultation with our allies in the Republic of Korea.”
It is correct policy and would shut up the Korean left. As an added bonus, it would probably flip KJI and KDJ out.
That is one of the most bizarre Korea-related op-eds I’ve ever read.
I don’t think Mr. Ross Terrill has the slightest clue about what’s going on in the Korean peninsula. His piece borders on being a comedy. How can such an obviously uninformed person even be tasked to write such an article for the Boston Globe? Was Badduk busy that day?
That is bizarre. I am perplexed by the incessant conversation by people fevershing theorizing what the new “name” of a hypothetically unified Korea. “Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo,” “Unifed Republic of Corea,” and whatever. It’s a meaningless discussion that distracts from more important issues such as 1.) How would the KJI rejime fall? 2.) Would the Koreas even be unified? 3.) Would they be politically united from the get go? Substance over form!
Hey, it’s Harvard, where professors probably have access to a better stash of weed than even Roh Moo-hyun himself.
Nevertheless, we should be having a conversation with China about ending the artificial division of Korea (ie, winding up the failed DPRK project) and working to assure Beijing and Seoul that it need not be as messy as they fear. As Andy Jackson said, let’s have Bush (and Abe, and ideally Hu and Putin) declare support for early Korean unification.
The Uri Party is guilty of a kumbaya approach to North Korea, but Ross Terrill is merely trying to get regime change on the agenda, where it should be. Check out Ralph Cossa’s latest essay (sorry no link, probably it’s in the Korea Times) which argues that the notion of regime change should be a talking point in any nuclear debate.
I’ve had one of my students who mentioned the ‘North Korea with nukes=a stronger reunified Korea’ theory. Didn’t take long for me to point out that if North Korea possesses nuclear weapons, odds are it will never accept reuinification on our terms unless their is a coup d’etat…and then China will move in to assimilate the North.
PS. Shelton, “What do you think about…?”
Wow, all those typos. Sorry. Just came back from the gym, so there isn’t much blood going to my head at the moment (feel free to make sarcastic comments).
Andy (#2): that is a brilliant idea!
1. Simply making the statement would cost nothing to the US;
2. It would be in line with long-term US policy towards Korea;
3. It would be good for domestic consumption…I’m pretty sure there’s no major segment in the US political spectrum that would disagree with it;
4. It would also be good for foreign consumption—who would want to be seen to openly disagree with it? Not Russia, China, or Japan;
5. It would completely take the wind out of the sales of the SK anti-US element;
6. It would force some SK opinion makers to take the unpalatable position of advocating a go-slow approach to unification (if they feel compelled to argue against the US position out of sheer force of habit, and pick especially on the “as soon as possible”), which would put paid to all of their pro-unification lip service.
This is the best you’re going to get from the US media because no one here cares about Korea, really. I live in a Korean neighborhood in NYC, and I hear nothing about this anywhere. The American news outlets are infinitely more concerned with the death of the Yankees pitcher than they are about KJI’s underpowered nuke test.
North Korea remains the top or near top story each day on CNN, NPR and most key web portals, and has stayed on the front page of quality papers all week. This will fade a bit until North Korea tests again or real action is taken.
Shelton’s post appears to confuse third-party op-eds with the “US media”. (I say appears because I know Shelton fancies himself a media-savvy dude.)
Long-time readers of the Marmot’s Hole will recall that the Boston Globe’s editorial space used to provide regular fisking fodder every time they took up the issue of North Korea, writing as they did with a goofy Hankyorehesque slant. By those lights, Terrill’s outside-the-box thinking is a breath of fresh air.
Typo in comment 9, item 5: “wind out of the sails“
Apt title for bum-garning post