By Kang Seung-woo
Three years after the sinking of the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan by North Korea in March 2010, the two Koreas show no signs of reconciliation.
On March 26, 2010, the 1,500-ton corvette with a crew of 104 sank off Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea after being torpedoed by a North Korean submarine. Forty-six sailors were killed, and Chief Warrant Officer Han Ju-ho, a navy diver, also died during the search for those who were missing.
Unfortunately, as usual, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has continued his nation’s provocative actions, including touring a frontline unit involved in the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island later that year, which he labeled a “Hero Defense Detachment.”
After concluding that Pyongyang attacked the Cheonan, President Lee Myung-bak’s administration suspended trade with North Korea and banned its merchant ships from Seoul’s waters on May 24, vowing to make the North “pay a price” for torpedoing the ship.
Eight months after the sinking, when the North shelled Yeonpyeong Island leaving two marines and two civilians dead, relations seemed to cross the line.
Due to the suspension of trade, companies involved in economic cooperation between the two sides are suffering huge losses.
The North launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, followed by its third nuclear test last month, making the situation on the Korean Peninsula worse. Responding to these continuing provocations, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) slapped the reclusive Stalinist state with extended sanctions and the Kim Jong-un regime strongly responded by scrapping the 1953 armistice.
The Park Geun-hye administration was inaugurated on Feb. 25, but relations between the Koreas continue to hang by a thread.
Responding to the stepped-up UNSC sanctions, the North has ramped up its threats to stage an all-out war.
In addition, its supreme leader has continued inspecting military units to highlight the country's defense capabilities against two annual joint maneuvers in the South ― the Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises.
Pyongyang watchers say the Park government needs to pursue a two-track strategy toward the North ― sternly dealing with the nuclear issue, while engaging in aid projects.
“While the South is cooperating with the United States and China to settle the nuclear issue, the government needs to respond to humanitarian needs in the North, such as the reunion of separated families and the support of infants in the long term,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University.