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NK Calls it “Intented for Unification by Absorption”
The wheel of Korea’s reunification is not working well. North Korea is still shooting negative remarks at president Park Geun-hye’s proposal in her Unification Doctrine that she addressed at the end of March. With the reunification not having found any middle ground for consensus, the two Koreas remain running parallel. Uncertainty rises whether Park, who took office in February, 2013, will be able to make any substantial results toward Korea's reunification during her presidency.
Her speech in Dresden can be called either the “Unification Doctrine” or “Dresden Declaration.” In her latest remarks at the Blue House, President Park stressed on the need of reunification and its challenges. While Park's plan on making the unification a bonanza was the bigger picture on the Park administration's reunification blueprint, the Dresden Declaration was more about suggesting a roadmap for practical implementation strategies. Park, in her speech, announced three specific proposals to North Korea for peaceful reunification:
▲Agenda for humanity - the concerns of everyday people
▲Agenda for co-prosperity through the building of infrastructure that support the livelihood of people
▲Agenda for integration between the people of South and North Korea.
Compared to earlier unification doctrines that focused on regime, Park’s speech put more weight on support for welfare and humanitarian aid for the people. It undertones that the groundwork for the reunification should be laid by expanding support for the people in North Korea. But the proposal does not seem to have been taken well by Pyongyang.
The reaction to Dresden Declaration was strong criticism, violent protest and nuclear threat. North Korea’s National Defense Commission interpreted the proposal as “impure intentions with unification by absorption in mind.” In a state-controlled released by North Korea’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency derided Park’s Dresden Declaration as “the detritus of the age, rife with betrayal of the Korean people and opposition to unification.” Three days after the Dresden Declaration, North Korea has threatened the fourth nuclear test and heightened tension tension through a military exercise at Northern Limit Line (NLL).
Experts consider 5.24 Measures and Mt. Kumgang Tourism to be reasons for North Korea's verbal lash against Dresden Declaration. The 5.24 Measures are economic sanctions on North Korea after the sinking of the corvette Cheonan which occurred on May 24, 2010. The tour program to the Kumgang resort remains suspended after one South Korean woman in the tour group was shot to death by a North Korean soldier in July, 2008.
North Korea has been requesting mainly the 5.24 measures to be lifted and to resume the Mt. Geumgang Tour.
But the South Korean government says that won’t happen until Pyongyang apologizes and takes responsibility for past actions including reprimanding the responsible person and security guarantees of the North.
These two matters are the lever for the South to bring out positive reaction of the North according to experts. Professor Sang-man Lee at Chung-ang University pointed out that “without active and flexible measures, Dresden Declaration will remain only as a unilateral declaration of the South Korean government.” Moo-Jin Yang, professor at the University of North Korean Studies has also advised that government must take care of these two matters to convince North Korea.
The Park administration, however, will not change their original position. The basic policy intends a separated approach to Dresden Declaration from the 5.24 measures and the Mt. Geumgang tour.
Seoul seemingly does not want to make a precedent where bad behavior goes unpunished. Unification minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae said, “the [South Korean] government will not read too much into North Korea’s reaction (to the Dresden proposal).”
The Ministry of Unification spokesperson Kim Euido said, “internally, we plan to continue with necessary arrangements to execute Dresden Declaration.”
U.S. president Barack Obama expressed support for the Dresden Declaration when he met president Park on 25 April.
Park said at the press conference, “although North Korea is rejecting our proposal, we will proceed with basic principles.” However, she did not mention any concrete strategies to move North Korea. Regarding Park’s proposal, the opposition criticised that it is a “one-way” policy or “questionable in its feasibility.”
It is unpredictable whether Park’s basic principles can tame the North without lifting the 5.24 Measures or resuming the Mt. Geumgang tour. “It is time to offer a proposal acceptable to North Korea. We can make a ‘deal,’ lift 5.24 measures and reopen the Geumgangsan tour, and negotiate our stance”, said An Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies.
By Lim Mun-Sik
usk@newscj.com