Renewed military tension

Seoul should not give NK excuses for provocation

The military is again on high alert. North Korea threatens to attack the locations from where the South Korean military and NGOs send propaganda leaflets in psychological warfare. The North is intimidating the South with threats of turning Seoul into a sea of fire unless Korea and the United States stop the joint military exercise.

Intelligence indicates that Pyongyang might conduct its third nuclear test and test-fire its intercontinental ballistic missiles sometime this year.

The North’s bullying comes after the inter-Korean military talks broke down. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin also did not rule out the North’s military provocations this month. The minister sees this possibility as Seoul and Washington are conducting the annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military exercise.

Pyongyang’s threat is nothing new. It is the risk and cost of Seoul’s disengagement policy toward the North. The North turned down Seoul’s requests. It refused to apologize for its torpedo attack on the Navy ship Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island near the northwestern maritime border. Pyongyang spurned Seoul’s linking the apology to dialogue. The North also does not trust President Lee Myung-bak’s proposal for a possible summit with Kim Jong-il as it presupposes the North’s dismantling of its nuclear weapons.

Seoul is also responsible for the current inter-Korean tension. Rep. Chung Mong-joon proposed the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the South until the North scraps its nuclear weapons. The Communist regime also sees the South’s psychological warfare as an attempt to undermine or topple its regime.

The North’s hysterical response came as the South Korean military resumed its psychological warfare after six years. The propaganda leaflets are sent from the Imjin River, Ganghwa Island and Baekryong Island near the Yeonpyong Island.

The psychological warfare resumed at this sensitive time when pro-democracy struggles have been sweeping parts of Africa and the Middle East. The North’s regime is desperate to contain information on the pro-democracy movements. The balloons contain information on the collapse of dictators in the Arab and African nations along with daily necessities, including toothpaste, instant food and portable radios.

Seoul should neither exaggerate nor discount Pyongyang’s military threat. The government and the military should be thoroughly prepared. The ongoing psychological warfare should be suspended so as not to give the North excuses for military provocation. The suspension does not mean the South’s bowing to the North’s intimidation. Leaders should refrain from publicly talking about the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the South.

In view of the lack of inter-Korean compromise and dialogue, the South may have no choice but to live under the North’s military threat. Pyongyang’s adventurism will be escalating as the country is heading for parliamentary and presidential elections next year.

It may be naive to expect an immediate collapse of the communist regime. The North should not harbor a false sense that the South will remain passive to its military provocations.