Category: Inter-Korean Issues

The Sunshiners are back and they just cannot bring themselves to admit that they wrong.  All the Sunshine Policy did was keep one of the world’s worst governments in power with money and food aid that in turn was used to develop ballistic missiles and a nuclear program that are now a threat to the rest of the world:

At symposium, participants argue that if conciliatory policies had been continued, inter-Korean relations wouldn’t have deteriorated

At an academic conference to mark the eighth anniversary of the October 4 North-South Declaration, several voices called for a restoration of the Sunshine Policy and other initiatives to improve inter-Korean relations. On Oct. 2, the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, Korea Peace Forum and Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) co-hosted an international symposium for the eighth anniversary of the October 4 declaration at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul.

At the symposium, James Hoare, a Chatham House fellow who was charge d’affaires and HM Consul-General at the British Embassy in Pyongyang, said that what South and North need right now is a return to the Sunshine Policy initiatives enacted by Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun from 1997 to 2007. He added that if Lee Myung-bak had continued such initiatives instead of abandoning the October 4 Declaration, it would have helped inter-Korean relations immensely.　Moon Jae-in, leader of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, claimed that if the initiatives of the October 4 declaration had continued, the lives of 70 million people would now be “brimming with hope and prosperity,” while the Korean Peninsula “reached out to the international community as a whole.” “The past eight years of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, however, have thrown inter-Korean relations back to the dark ages,” he added, adding that if measures such as the special zone of peace and cooperation in the West (Yellow) Sea and economic reunification had been properly implemented, the nation could have focused its efforts on conquering problems like stagnant growth, the decline of the middle class, and youth unemployment. The October 4 declaration included agreements to establish a “special zone of peace and cooperation” in the West Sea, including the city of Haeju and the surrounding maritime region, as well as the launch of joint fishing areas and peace districts.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

This is why the Kim regime agrees to family reunions, not because they actually care about reuniting their citizens with southern family members, but because they get money from it and it is an additional bargaining chip for them to use.  They are now using that bargaining chip in an effort to silence President Park’s criticism of their expected rocket launch:

North Korea lashed out against President Park Geun-hye’s speech at the UN General Assembly on Monday and threatened to cancel planned cross-border family reunions.

South Korea’s “reckless” and “confrontational” behavior means that “the rare reunions of separated families are at stake like being on a thin ice,” a spokesman for the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement.

In her UN speech, Park urged Pyongyang not to go ahead with what it claims will be a satellite launch but is widely seen as an attempt to test long-range missile technology.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like there is another convert to what I have been saying for years that the Kim regime will never denuclearize or seek peaceful reunification with South Korea:

A former CIA agent said Tokyo, which is expected to pass a controversial security bill on Friday, should build up its military strength in order to play a key role in a North Korea collapse.

Michael Lee, the 81-year-old former director of the CIA’s North Korea section, made the statement in an interview with Sankei Shimbun, the conservative Japanese newspaper that was charged for publishing derogatory remarks about South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

“The strong samurai spirit of Japan is needed,” Lee said on the topic of dealing with North Korea, and added the government in Seoul is not up to the task of reunification.

South Korean outlet Newsis reported Lee, a Korean-American, said Seoul is wrong to seek a win-win strategy in negotiations with North Korea, and added that “now is the time” to take down the Pyongyang regime – citing Kim Jong Un‘s destabilizing politics of fear.

Lee also said South Korea’s “submissive attitude” to Pyongyang was a “complete failure,” and criticized the Park administration for its show of weakness. Lee also said Washington is believed to be changing its North Korea policy and considering a possibility of collapse after Pyongyang refused to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Lee said it is impossible to coexist with the current regime in North Korea and that the only way to liberate North Koreans from their suffering would be the elimination of the Kim regime.  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link.

Mike Bassett raises questions about ongoing propaganda campaigns against North Korea http://t.co/XUbwWRW1pV pic.twitter.com/dbMZTPBT3F

— The Korea Observer (@koreaobserver) September 12, 2015

Calling Seoul. 3 wks after N-S accord, reunions on track – but the rest? Wider talks, exchanges? Any word yet? @AlastairGale @John_F_Power

— Aidan Foster-Carter (@fcaidan) September 14, 2015

That is what the below report in the Hankyoreh is speculating could happen if North Korea launches a rocket in October:

The main variable in future diplomatic trends is the question of whether North Korea will launch a long-range rocket. There has been discussion of the possibility of North Korea testing a long-range rocket on the pretext of putting a satellite into orbit on Oct. 10, the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party.

Indeed, a video was posted on Uriminzokkiri, a website that North Korea uses to send propaganda to South Korea, in which the anchor said, “South Korea’s opposition parties, press, and experts urged the government not to cast a chill on inter-Korean relations, which are starting to thaw at last, simply because North Korea launches a satellite.”Experts suspect that North Korea’s suggestive comments are intended to provide justification for the upcoming rocket launch.   (………………)

This could also lead to renewed calls from the US and Japan to deploy THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) on the Korean Peninsula to defend against North Korean rockets. If South Korea is dragged into a discussion of THAAD, opposition from China could strain relations between the two countries.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

If North Koreans would be so shocked to see President Park seated next to Chinese President Xi maybe the activist groups should start launching their propaganda balloons into North Korea with DVDs and images of this fact:

Park Geun Hye’s recent visit to China to attend 70th anniversary celebrations marking the end of WWII has been the subject of much attention and analysis, a fair amount of which speculated that the special treatment bestowed on the South Korean leader by Beijing portends stronger bilateral ties between the two nations going forward.

Lee Tae Hwan, head of the Chinese research center at Sejong Institute, said that South Korea and China’s joint criticism of North Korea’s aggravations on the Korean Peninsula sends a strong message to the North that it should cease and prevent further provocations.

“This comes ahead of the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party in October, when many expect the North to launch a missile or execute another show of strength. Remarks coming out of the China-South Korea meeting will undoubtedly place major pressure on the North,” he explained.

Cho Bong Hyun, a senior researcher from IBK Economic Research Institute, surmised that North Korea “must feel cornered,” after China backed South Korea’s stance that further provocations by North Korea on the Korean Peninsula are “unacceptable.”

“As a nation that was trying to recover its ‘blood-ally’ relationship with China, North Korea probably feels left out in the cold as China is trying to press ahead with a trilateral summit meeting among South Korea, China, and Japan,” Cho asserted.

The marked absence of commentary regarding North Korea’s nuclear development on China’s part, however, divided opinions on the implications for the recent Sino-South Korea interactions. The less skeptical of those watching the issue assert that China’s overt criticism of North Korea’s provocation is a clear indication of its stance and proof positive of consensus with South Korea on the nuclear issue as well.

Cho does urge caution and hasty conclusions from one meeting, noting that “it’s too much to expect denuclearization of North Korea through a single discussion between China and South Korea.” Now, he added, “it is imperative to devise strategies and continuously cooperate with China in order to realize a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”  [Daily NK]

You can read more at the link.

It is always heart warming to see the images of the separated families meeting during these infrequent family reunions, but I always wonder how much the Kim regime receives from the ROK in return for hosting them?:

Ryoo Si-bong, 76, cannot sleep well these days on anticipation that South and North Korea’s recent landmark deal on easing military tension may make his lifelong wish come true: meeting his older sister living in North Korea.

Until the 1950-53 Korean War broke out, Ryoo, who used to live in China’s northeastern region of Manchuria, never thought he would not be able to see his sister again when she moved to North Korea after marriage.

Following several failed attempts to join the state-arranged family reunions, Ryoo is now voicing hope that he may have a chance to meet his 92-year-old sister as the two Koreas agreed in late August to resume the much-awaited reunions of families separated by the war.

“I want to know whether she is alive or not. My lifelong wish is to meet my sister before I die,” Ryoo said, showing an undelivered letter that he wrote to her two years ago while missing her. “This time, I want to be picked for the upcoming reunion event.”

Ryoo is among more than 66,000 surviving South Korean family members separated by the Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving South and North Korea technically at war.

Inter-Korean relations have long been strained amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations, but burgeoning signs of better ties are now growing, backed by the two Koreas’ deal on easing a recent military standoff.

South and North Korea have agreed to make efforts to improve their ties and push for the resumption of the family reunions on the occasion of Korea’s fall harvest holiday, Chuseok, slated for late September. The family reunions were last held in February 2014.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I guess the good news is that if you take the Chinese government at their word they are not planning to send troops into downtown Seoul again to destroy the ROK.  On the other hand I think everyone knows peaceful reunification is never going to happen as long as the Kim regime remains in power in North Korea:

President Park Geun-hye on Friday said South Korea and China could quickly begin various discussions on how to achieve a peaceful unification between South and North Korea.

“Peaceful unification is the fundamental and the quickest way to resolve nuclear and other issues,” Park said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on the way back to Seoul from a trip to China, referring to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Tensions persist on the divided peninsula over the North’s pursuit of its missile and nuclear weapons program. The communist country has a track record of staging provocations against South Korea.

The North — which conducted three nuclear tests — has repeatedly vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy against it.

South Korea “would cooperate with China for a peaceful unification,” Park said. “Various discussions could begin as soon as possible on how to achieve a peaceful unification.” She did not provide a specific time frame.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

I like this type of engagement with North Korea where reforesting the environment is beneficial to both sides, however Seoul should not have agreed to pay for their studies in Germany.  Instead they should have offered them to train in South Korea.  If the Kim regime can afford nuclear weapons and ICBMs, they can afford to send their own scholars to school in Germany.  By the way I guess this guy won’t be going to training in Germany:

Seoul plans to provide funding for North Korean forestry specialists to study in Germany, a U.S. news report said Saturday, in its latest effort to restore deforested mountains in the North.

Under the plan, South Korea will help around 30 North Korean experts study in Germany by providing US$70,000, according to the Voice of America (VOA), which cited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The specialists will visit Germany in four batches between September and November. Germany, with forests covering one-third of its area, has one of the world’s leading forestry industries. [Korea Times]