By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― American Walter Keats has just returned from Pyongyang. He has been visiting North Korea since 1995. His job is to bring American high-class tourists to North Korea, which it allows only for the two months of the year, August and September, during the famous Arirang performance period. Keats spoke with Korea Times in Beijing about what he saw in North Korea.
Korea Times: Did you see the Arirang performance this time again?
Actually, we saw the first Arirang performance of the year. The Arirang was the best ever this year. We sat in the $250 seats ― the second most expensive ones for foreigners. I also noticed that the many of the most expensive $300 seats were empty.
A South Korean tourist was shot dead in the Mt. Kumgang tourist area in North Korea. Did you see any change of atmosphere there?
Not really. I think when our group first went to the DMZ from the South Korean side, we saw the South Koreans were nervous. But when we then went to North Korea, the routine was the same. We didn't see anything affected by the incident.
North Korea doesn't come as a tourist "attraction" in the minds of many people. Why did you decide to start a North Korean tour?
We thought it would develop faster. We were a bit disappointed that it has been a slow progress, not as faster as we thought.
What are the usual people on your tour?
Most are old and experienced travelers who are looking for some places that are different than other remote areas. And they want to see it before it opens up to the world.
Overall, did you sense any sign of North Korea opening up?
They were fixing things up a lot on the street in Pyongyang. I also saw they were renovating the very tall hotel. What's the name? Yu-kyung Hotel? I don't know where the money came from. But it was interesting.
The guides told us to ask permission first before we'd take pictures. But we took some anyway. And it was okay. Of course, we didn't take pictures of any military facilities. The North Korean contact person I met in Pyongyang had just returned from Singapore. I think North Korea has already started to bring Singaporean and Malaysian tourists to North Korea from anywhere 400 to 800. North Korea's Koryo Airlines newly bought Russian airplanes for that. So, you can read some signs of opening up.
What is the usual feedback you get from your tourists?
They told me that they got to know more about North Korea by being there and came out with a more realistic picture of the country.
The big problem now is that the current five-days-four-nights tour is not long enough. It would be good if they would allow us to stay longer. For Americans, it is a long haul to get to North Korea. It takes two days for them to get there.
Is that why you combine the tour with the visits to South Korea where they can visit DMZ?
Yes. We also bring them to Dandong in China where they can see North Korea across the border.
What do average North Koreans think about America?
North Koreans, from my perspective, think Americans are very bad. They think South Koreans are puppets of Americans. It's ridiculous. I pointed out to them that South Korea is the 13th largest economy in the world. Also, they really don't know that actually North Korea started the Korean war.
I know you meet many people. From your experience of visiting both Koreas, meeting with foreign aid workers, American government officials, South Korean officials, U.N. people, academics and journalists, what do you think South Korea should do to improve the situation in the Korean peninsula?
I think Koreans should take a more active role. You're the ones who are going to die. How many American are going to die? How many Americans are going to have a problem with this? Very few.
Who's going to reunify with North Korea? Not Americans. Not Japan. Not Russia. Not China. Let's hope it's not China.
We are technically at a war with North Korea. The South Korea, the U.S., the United Nations, are at war with North Korea. So, it seems difficult for North Korea to change. Instead they came up with the "Sun Gun" (military first) policy.
It seems we should make it easier for them to change. Don't you think so? We are not rewarding North Korea by it.
I visited Seoul on July 27th, the 55th anniversary of the signing of the armistice. What kind of war has gone that long? You want to set the world's record? How can you be at war with somebody for 55 years? It's crazy. It should be our priority to get this resolved. I am not disagreeing with the view that North Korea has not been necessarily helping the situation. But it seems to me that that's got to be our priority. Let's get the thing resolved. Otherwise, we will keep going through this cycle. Clinton was there. He made some progress. Then Bush came. But Bush is about to step down. And then what's going to happen? McCain or Obama? They don' t care about North Korea. I think this is what Koreans don't realize either. That is, Americans don't care. It's a sad thing. They don't care about Korea. Remember in the 1950s when the American Secretary of State Dean Acheson said that Korea is not part of our sphere of interest? Kim Il-sung then went up to Stalin and decided 'Let's attack [South Korea']. North Korea makes a lot of noise. But we don't care. So, it's going to keep happening over and over. This is not going to work out because North Korea is not going to tell us about their weapons because they are at war with the United States. Then the U.S. is going to say, 'Look we cannot trust North Koreans. They are bad guys.'
Then, North Koreans are going to say the U.S. are bad guys. The U.S. promised that they would do this and that. And they didn't do any of them. So, then, it will take another four years of the U.S. administration change before we will talk again. And the new administration will have the same problem until they have the peace treaty. Let's not keep doing this. It only reinforces both sides' stereotyping each other.
You sound like you're personally involved.
Yeah. I spend a lot of time thinking about this. And I don't understand why it continues to be that way.
How can you persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons?
Let's have a peace treaty. I think there are three groups in North Korea. The Korean People's Army (KPA) and the government per se, and the people. Some people in the government are interested in opening up. The people are at the bottom and powerless but they are the people who suffer the most. So, I think the peace treaty will neutralize the KPA. With the peace treaty, why would North Korea want the "Sun Gun" policy? Wouldn't it be nice if North Korea becomes people-first, not military-first?
North Korea may have several nuclear weapons. America has 9,000 of them. Can North Korea give up its nuclear weapons, you may ask. But a better question is why should it give up? There are many other countries in the world that have nuclear weapons such as Israel. But America doesn't tell them to give up their nuclear weapons. A more realistic approach is to tell North Korea not to proliferate its nukes and not to sell them to other countries.
It seems to me that we're not going to be very successful with the six-party talks as long as KPA wants the nuclear weapons. If we have a peace treaty, then it gives them the reason to give up their nuclear weapons. But without a peace treaty, why would they want to give up?
A peace treaty is not a reward for North Korea. It's to our benefit and we should take the first initiative to show our good intention. The danger is that if South Korea doesn't sign the peace treaty, then South Korea is marginalizing itself when South Korea in fact is the only legitimate partner to North Korea.
They are your brothers, for God's sake.