By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
North Korea has resorted to the so-called tactic of threats-for-aid to earn cash abroad since the 1990s as the end of the Cold War plunged it into a more difficult situation to manage its survival, a North Korea expert said Wednesday.
``Since then, the North has shown enthusiasm in inter-Korean economic cooperation, exported missiles and related technology to other countries, and developed nuclear programs,'' said professor Cho Dong-ho of Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
At a seminar at the National Assembly, Cho called the North's approach a dangerous tactic aimed at ensuring its survival.
Attendees exchanged views on the roles that South Korea can play in helping the North achieve a better economy.
To help the Stalinist state become a nation that plays by the rules, Cho proposed that South Korea expand economic ties with its northern neighbor, saying it would help the communist state overhaul its flawed economic system and finally become part of the global market economy.
Lim Soo-ho, senior researcher at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, was skeptical about the effect of expanding economic ties between the two Koreas on improving the impoverished North.
``The real world experiences say the positive effect is not proven,'' he said.
He stressed South Korea needs to use a wise policy mix of global partnerships and measures for inter-Korean economic cooperation to better deal with the North.
Since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year, the South has tried to resolve the North's nuclear program issue based on concerted efforts with its allies in the six-party talks.
Lim predicts that the approach may end with South Korea as a secondary player whose voice is rarely heard in talks to deal with peninsula issues in the future.
Professor Cho said North Korea considered the aforementioned dangerous survival plan a multiple-purpose card, which it believes could strengthen the unity inside the Stalinist North and help power succession smoothly.
It also believes the threats-for-aid tactic will help the North normalize diplomatic relations with the United States.
The North has tried a variety of policies in a bid to rebuild its impoverished economy since the 1950s.
It received foreign loans and aid mostly from the Western world and set up several economic enclaves, including the Najin-Sonbong free trade zone, from 1991 to attract foreign investment.
``The North was unable to bear the fruits of these efforts mainly because of the fundamental problems such as poor infrastructure, insufficient energy supply, the interventionist government and low domestic demand for products,'' he said.
In addition to these deep-seated problems, the North Korea expert pointed to the stubborn Juche ideology, a state ideology meaning self-reliance or self-dependence, as a major stumbling block to economic growth in the Stalinist state.
``Facing the tough environment, the North should have placed top priorities on openness and economic reform to break the stalemate, but instead it put the military first. Survival of the regime was as important as rebuilding the economy for the communist state,'' said Cho.