North Korea and Cuba

Pyongyang has no reason not to emulate ‘brother nation'

For the past half-century or so, North Korea and Cuba have lived like twin brothers facing a common adversary: the United States. Now the situations surrounding the last two remnants of the Cold War era could hardly be more different.

Cuba is about to normalize its relationship with the U.S., thanks in part to its policy of reform and openness. In contrast, North Korea is still subject to international ridicule and rebuke: filmmaker Sony has given up screening its movie lampooning the North's leader Kim Jong-un amid threats of terrorism and the U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution denouncing the dismal human rights in the reclusive state.

Pyongyang must have been envious and embarrassed as it watched U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement on Wednesday declaring the end of antagonism toward what has been a thorn in the U.S. side since 1961.

By doing so, the U.S. leader acknowledged the mistakes in Washington's foreign policy, conceding that the encouragement of reform is far more effective than sanctions and blockade in bringing about changes in target countries. He also might have calculated that lifting embargoes would open a market of 11 million people for U.S. companies, and exposing Cuba to foreign influence would weaken, not strengthen, the Castro brothers' grip on power.

One therefore can see few reasons the same strategy cannot be applied to North Korea.

Pyongyang is of course much different from Havana, as White House spokesman John Ernst pointed out, citing the North's nuclear and missile threats, rights abuses and frequent failures to abide by its previous commitments. "Our concerns with the regime in North Korea are different than the concerns that we have with Cuba," he said.

However, it is also true that North Korea has expressed its intention, perhaps more than 100 times, to abandon its nuclear programs on condition that Washington drops its hostility to the latter and formally recognizes it, to which the U.S. has responded with "denuclearize first" calls. Neither takes the first step to end this tedious and endless chicken-and-egg situation. Yet the thaw between the U.S. and Cuba shows there must be a bold change of concept, and a good go-between ― like Pope Francis in this case ― to turn what seemed to be the unthinkable into a reality.

U.S. officials, and their South Korean counterparts for that matter, have always said they are open to dialogue with North Korea ― provided the latter shows "sincerity" by taking preliminary steps toward giving up its nuclear programs. If the Cuban breakthrough is any guide, however, the allies would well do to ease their preconditions somewhat and reopen talks with the isolationist regime in other areas. That is, on condition of Kim Jong-un trying to be at least as open and reformative as Raul Castro, if not the late Deng Xiaoping of China.

South Korea should attempt to be such an arbiter and facilitator, instead of parroting the U.S. tactics on North Korea. This is why we find something missing from the government's response to the U.S.-Cuban development, which just welcomed it and expressed a willingness to also set up relationship with the Caribbean country.

The Park Geun-hye administration should do far more, and better, than that.

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn