The Dong-A Ilbo tells us what we already knew—the government is deeply divided as to how to proceed with North Korea, with the Unification Ministry on one side and the Foreign and Defense ministries on the other.
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5 Comments
It’s too bad that this post and the one preceding it (on the fence the Chinese are building along the NK frontier) have garnered so little attention (apparently), or at least so few comments. That there is such a wide range of opinions even on SK pet projects like Kaesŏng is interesting stuff (although I wonder what exactly “we should have been ambiguous” means in reference to the latter…doesn’t quite sound like a ringing endorsement of shutting it down).
I can’t believe the Min of Unif has more clout than Foreign & Defense Ministries combined. Or does it? The Unif boys sure seem to get their way all the time.
It would be a big mistake for SK to do a turn-about face right now and adopt a hard stance against NK. Now is the time for the ROK gov to step up intra-Korea dialogue and convince the North that the only true “friend” its got left in the world is none other than their fellow ethnic compatriots. Even erstwhile ally China is starting to take harsh measures against NK now, not to mention that China is looking to “absorb” NK eventually, one way or another. This is good for the cause of Korean unification since that would push NK into SK’s camp, as long as SK does not cave in to American pressures for unilateral sanction of NK.
NK is like the black sheep of the family that has fucked up, did drugs, sold drugs, killed a few people, dabbled in criminal activities like money laundering, and is now in big trouble. SK is like the sole family relative left that “understands” and still leaves the light on and the door open for the prodigal relative to return home.
When, bluejives, has the regime in NK ever trusted anyone, Korean or not? As you would know if you were familiar with the seongbun system, it has classified a MAJORITY of its own people as either “hostile” or “unreliable.” (Many are considered “hostile” because they voluntarily returned to North Korea from Japan. Try figuring that out.)
Since we can assume that an even higher portion of S.Koreans would be classified into such seongbun, we have to conclude that this is a regime which - for all its racist chest-pounding - believes that most Koreans simply can’t be trusted.
As you would know if you were familiar with the seongbun system, it has classified a MAJORITY of its own people as either “hostile” or “unreliable.” (Many are considered “hostile” because they voluntarily returned to North Korea from Japan. Try figuring that out.)
Basically, what you are describing is a commonly known characteristic shared by virtually every totalitarian Stalinist, Marxist, Fascist, and other *ist-ish police state known to have existed and has been the reason why there were such infamous organisation such as the KGI, Gestapo, Stasi, and Dept of Homeland Security (oops…did I just blurt that out?) . In other words, what else is new?
Trust is not a concept that can be directly applicable to relations between nation-states. Nations do not have friends, only interests. It’s a matter of degree and relativity. NK may not fully trust SK in absolute terms but compared to Japan, the US, and increasingly even their old patrons the Chinese, SK looks like a damn long, lost buddy. That’s my reckoning.