ed Detente on Korean Peninsula

Koreas need to resume confidence-building initiatives

Whoever wins the presidential election in December, Seoul is likely to pursue detente with Pyongyang. The new initiative under a new leader is an encouraging development that should provide a breakthrough to the deadlocked inter-Korean relations.

Park Geun-hye, a strong candidate for the governing Saenuri Party, has said restoring confidence in inter-Korean relations is a precondition for upgrading relations between the two Koreas. She also said Seoul should honor the agreements it signed with Pyongyang and respect the principles of the inter-Korean agreements signed under the leadership of Park Chung-hee, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. She also advocated North Korea’s denuclearization but kept silent on the North’s human rights.

The initiative is a rather bold one from Park. It is a major turnaround from President Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy. She borrowed the key skeleton of Kim’s Sunshine Policy.

The main opposition Democratic United Party is more proactive than the governing party. DUP Chairwoman Han Myeng-sook has urged the government to scrap the May 24 embargo that President Lee imposed following the North’s attack on the Yeonpyeong Island two years ago. She said the liberal party will play a role in resuming exchanges between the Koreas. She also called for dialogue to improve the frozen relations. Strategically or not, the DUP is silent on the North’s denuclearization. Like Park, Han did not raise the issue of the North’s brutal suppression of human rights.

The two parties are more accommodative and engaging than the Lee administration in North Korea policy.

However, it takes two to tango. North Korea should also show willingness for new detente. Its new leader Kim Jong-un should scrap his late father’s military-first policy. It should also dismantle nuclear weapons, which it has used to extort aid from the outside world.

The South should overcome their ideological dogma to maintain consistency in North Korea policy. The conservatives should not become hostage to the outdated Cold War mentality. The liberals need to shed sentimentalism and emphasize reciprocity.

It is far-fetched to predict when the Koreas will be one country although unification will surely come. A consensus is unification will come around 2030. The two nations should seek ways of maximizing synergy ahead of unification. The South can reduce the unification costs through helping the North rebuild its dilapidated infrastructure. A containment policy will make the security conditions on the Korean Peninsula unstable and raise unification costs. The North’s military-first policy will only impoverish its people and delay unification.

Seoul should respect the agreements made with Pyongyang. The South should honor the accords the North has made with the international community. No progress will be possible on inter-Korean relations without respecting each other as a sovereign nation.

Seoul needs a consistent North Korea policy regardless of the change of power every five years. German reunification became possible because of consistency.