Koreas must find catalyst for thaw before it's too late
If the government has any intention to break the deadlock in inter-Korean ties, now seems to be perfect timing. A visit by Pope Francis and the anniversary of Liberation Day in Korea are imminent, and the Asian Games to be held in Incheon are not far off, too.
It was only natural therefore that the Park Geun-hye administration seized the day and offered to resume high-level talks between the Koreas, and pledged to donate $13.3 million to help two U.N. agencies provide nutrients and medicine to malnourished babies and their mothers in the North.
To its credit, Seoul proposed to discuss holding not just another round of family reunions but other topics, such as resuming tours to Mount Geumgang for South Koreans and lifting economic sanctions on Pyongyang.
It is not certain whether the North will accept the offer for dialogue in part because the proposed date of Aug. 19 sits in the middle of a South Korea-U.S. joint military drill, which Pyongyang vehemently denounces as "war games of the fanatics," and because relations between the Koreas have hit rock bottom since they held their first high-level talks under the Park administration six months ago.
This notwithstanding, Pyongyang ought to positively respond to Seoul's proposal. In the inter-Korean relationship, a lack of communication has always been the larger problem than revealing difference of opinions. The North is also free to change the date of meeting, as the South is flexible on that matter, but is advised not to reject the proposal altogether under the pretext of the military exercise, which has all but become an annual ritual.
Unification Minister Ryu Gil-jae said that Seoul also wants to explain President Park's ''Dresden Declaration" as well as a recently-launched Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification to dispel what the South sees as the North's misunderstanding about them. It will not be easy, though. North Korea has fiercely criticized Park's inter-Korean initiatives announced during her visit to the German city in April, describing them as thinly-veiled attempts by the capitalist South to absorb the communist North.
Pyongyang's overreactions cannot hide its political purposes. Still it is also true that there is a room for some criticism in the declaration and Park's other North Korea policies, which basically calls for starting with small steps, building trust and moving toward eventual unification, which few can refute from a realistic viewpoint. The problem is, all these proposals have one precondition in common: denuclearization of North Korea, which Pyongyang will never accept, which in turn is a near fait accompli which even Seoul and most other governments acknowledge.
This is why we think Park's inter-Korean policy, albeit appearing more open than that of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, has actually failed to move not even one step from the latter's.
Unless Seoul pushes ahead with reconciliatory steps aside from nuclear issues, inter-Korean ties will remain frozen, and the nation's leverage in the rapidly changing regional, and global, diplomacy will be perilously limited. This is why President Park should be far bolder than now in both future inter-Korean dialog and when sending messages in her Liberation Day speech Friday. Park must prove that her latest offer is not a one-off political gesture intended to make her appear as a willing negotiator.
To accomplish national unification, the South Korean leader, herself an inter-Korean hawk, faces the daunting task of facing down hard-liners both at home and abroad ― and even North Korea. Former President Kim Dae-jung attempted this and failed. It will be nothing short of a miracle if Park can achieve this.
If the government has any intention to break the deadlock in inter-Korean ties, now seems to be perfect timing. A visit by Pope Francis and the anniversary of Liberation Day in Korea are imminent, and the Asian Games to be held in Incheon are not far off, too.
It was only natural therefore that the Park Geun-hye administration seized the day and offered to resume high-level talks between the Koreas, and pledged to donate $13.3 million to help two U.N. agencies provide nutrients and medicine to malnourished babies and their mothers in the North.
To its credit, Seoul proposed to discuss holding not just another round of family reunions but other topics, such as resuming tours to Mount Geumgang for South Koreans and lifting economic sanctions on Pyongyang.
It is not certain whether the North will accept the offer for dialogue in part because the proposed date of Aug. 19 sits in the middle of a South Korea-U.S. joint military drill, which Pyongyang vehemently denounces as "war games of the fanatics," and because relations between the Koreas have hit rock bottom since they held their first high-level talks under the Park administration six months ago.
This notwithstanding, Pyongyang ought to positively respond to Seoul's proposal. In the inter-Korean relationship, a lack of communication has always been the larger problem than revealing difference of opinions. The North is also free to change the date of meeting, as the South is flexible on that matter, but is advised not to reject the proposal altogether under the pretext of the military exercise, which has all but become an annual ritual.
Unification Minister Ryu Gil-jae said that Seoul also wants to explain President Park's ''Dresden Declaration" as well as a recently-launched Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification to dispel what the South sees as the North's misunderstanding about them. It will not be easy, though. North Korea has fiercely criticized Park's inter-Korean initiatives announced during her visit to the German city in April, describing them as thinly-veiled attempts by the capitalist South to absorb the communist North.
Pyongyang's overreactions cannot hide its political purposes. Still it is also true that there is a room for some criticism in the declaration and Park's other North Korea policies, which basically calls for starting with small steps, building trust and moving toward eventual unification, which few can refute from a realistic viewpoint. The problem is, all these proposals have one precondition in common: denuclearization of North Korea, which Pyongyang will never accept, which in turn is a near fait accompli which even Seoul and most other governments acknowledge.
This is why we think Park's inter-Korean policy, albeit appearing more open than that of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, has actually failed to move not even one step from the latter's.
Unless Seoul pushes ahead with reconciliatory steps aside from nuclear issues, inter-Korean ties will remain frozen, and the nation's leverage in the rapidly changing regional, and global, diplomacy will be perilously limited. This is why President Park should be far bolder than now in both future inter-Korean dialog and when sending messages in her Liberation Day speech Friday. Park must prove that her latest offer is not a one-off political gesture intended to make her appear as a willing negotiator.
To accomplish national unification, the South Korean leader, herself an inter-Korean hawk, faces the daunting task of facing down hard-liners both at home and abroad ― and even North Korea. Former President Kim Dae-jung attempted this and failed. It will be nothing short of a miracle if Park can achieve this.
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