Action plans are lacking in Seoul's N. Korea policy
The government said Monday it envisions construction of an inter-Korean railway linking Seoul and Pyongyang, extending to other major North Korean cities, northwest to Sinuiju and northeast to Rajin.
Seoul also said that it will try to open inter-Korean cultural centers in Seoul and Pyongyang and launch a joint committee to mark the 70th anniversary (which falls this August) of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule. A new law that will govern inter-Korean unification will be legislated so that succeeding administrations of President Park Geun-hye can implement the unification drive systematically and consistently.
Rhetorically, these big visions seem apt when we note that the Park administration upholds that "unification is a bonanza" and proposed to Pyongyang last December to come to the table for talks. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un responded likewise in his New Year address. Seoul has continued to prod Pyongyang for talks, even as Washington recently hardened its stance toward the North specifically over the hacking of Sony Pictures.
Seoul has also indicated that it is willing to discuss a wide range of matters including the May 24 sanctions put in place after the 2010 torpedoing by the North of the South Korean frigate Cheonan, only if the North sits down with the South for talks.
As noted, there is plenty of will from Seoul's part and this has inflated into grand visions to bring or unify the two Koreas primarily in the fields of humanitarian assistance, environment and culture.
The government also said that the details and schedules of the plans have yet to be determined, which they will do so through future discussions with the North.
But there is no word to date from Pyongyang on a proposed meeting between the two Koreas, just iterations that Seoul must stop the joint military exercises with the United States. Pyongyang no longer mentions the civilian sending of anti-North Korean leaflets across the border attached to balloons, because the Seoul government and the civilian parties have agreed to suspend this activity for now.
These plans came forth in a joint annual briefing by the ministries of unification, foreign affairs, defense, and veterans affairs to the President. It's a once-a-year briefing of the respective ministry's plan for the year 2015, so there might have been a temptation for an ambitious blueprint.
On the thorny issue of North Korean nuclear capability, only the foreign ministry said that it will work so that progress in inter-Korean relations will work positively for denuclearization. If there are more detailed plans under these idealistic-sounding visions that cannot be made public for strategic reasons, this would be more than welcome.
Dealing with the truculent North is not easy, but as they say, the devil is in the details. What is needed now is for Seoul to exercise a deft give-and-take approach with the North toward peaceful co-existence and eventual unification.
There is an array of inter-Korean exchanges suspended or ongoing which the two can more easily pick up ― such as resumption of high-level inter-Korean contact raised first last October as well as the resumption of the meeting of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War ― prior to establishing the railroad connection.
The government said Monday it envisions construction of an inter-Korean railway linking Seoul and Pyongyang, extending to other major North Korean cities, northwest to Sinuiju and northeast to Rajin.
Seoul also said that it will try to open inter-Korean cultural centers in Seoul and Pyongyang and launch a joint committee to mark the 70th anniversary (which falls this August) of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule. A new law that will govern inter-Korean unification will be legislated so that succeeding administrations of President Park Geun-hye can implement the unification drive systematically and consistently.
Rhetorically, these big visions seem apt when we note that the Park administration upholds that "unification is a bonanza" and proposed to Pyongyang last December to come to the table for talks. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un responded likewise in his New Year address. Seoul has continued to prod Pyongyang for talks, even as Washington recently hardened its stance toward the North specifically over the hacking of Sony Pictures.
Seoul has also indicated that it is willing to discuss a wide range of matters including the May 24 sanctions put in place after the 2010 torpedoing by the North of the South Korean frigate Cheonan, only if the North sits down with the South for talks.
As noted, there is plenty of will from Seoul's part and this has inflated into grand visions to bring or unify the two Koreas primarily in the fields of humanitarian assistance, environment and culture.
The government also said that the details and schedules of the plans have yet to be determined, which they will do so through future discussions with the North.
But there is no word to date from Pyongyang on a proposed meeting between the two Koreas, just iterations that Seoul must stop the joint military exercises with the United States. Pyongyang no longer mentions the civilian sending of anti-North Korean leaflets across the border attached to balloons, because the Seoul government and the civilian parties have agreed to suspend this activity for now.
These plans came forth in a joint annual briefing by the ministries of unification, foreign affairs, defense, and veterans affairs to the President. It's a once-a-year briefing of the respective ministry's plan for the year 2015, so there might have been a temptation for an ambitious blueprint.
On the thorny issue of North Korean nuclear capability, only the foreign ministry said that it will work so that progress in inter-Korean relations will work positively for denuclearization. If there are more detailed plans under these idealistic-sounding visions that cannot be made public for strategic reasons, this would be more than welcome.
Dealing with the truculent North is not easy, but as they say, the devil is in the details. What is needed now is for Seoul to exercise a deft give-and-take approach with the North toward peaceful co-existence and eventual unification.
There is an array of inter-Korean exchanges suspended or ongoing which the two can more easily pick up ― such as resumption of high-level inter-Korean contact raised first last October as well as the resumption of the meeting of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War ― prior to establishing the railroad connection.
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