By Kang Seung-woo
Confusion is continuing to spread over whether President Park Geun-hye really meant that she would seek to overthrow the Kim Jong-un regime when she spoke about how to change North Korea during a National Assembly address, on Tuesday.
A number of Korean language newspapers published headlines, saying “Park aims to overthrow the Kim regime,” based on their interpretations of Park’s vaguely-worded speech at one moment.
What she said can be interpreted as either “I will change the regime” or “I will make the regime change.”
The newspapers and some analysts interpreted this as holding the first meaning.
The confusion arose because of the vagueness of the Korean language, a Cheong Wa Dae official said.
“The wording ‘change’ can be viewed in many ways, but you better understand it in the second way,” said presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk, denying that she is seeking to overthrow the North’s regime.
She did make a comment about a regime change in the speech, but this did not mean that she will take action to overthrow the government in Pyongyang, as reported by the newspapers, Jung said.
In her speech, Park told lawmakers that Seoul will continue to take harsh steps of its own to change Pyongyang. In addition, Park vowed to take stronger and more effective measures to make North Korea realize that its nuclear program will only hasten its collapse ― the first time that Park has mentioned a regime collapse.
Moreover, others are questioning whether the South Korean government is really seeking to overthrow the North Korean regime.
North Korea analysts said that the Park government appears to be aimed at subverting the North Korean regime.
“President Park’s address means the South’s pursuit of the North’s regime change rather than hoping for the North’s reform and opening through regime transformation,” said Namkoong Young, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in a media interview.
Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, voiced a similar view.
“If South Korea intends to change the North’s behavior, the two sides need to meet and hold talks, but considering the current situation with the bilateral communication channels cut off, referring to a regime change means it is seeking to overthrow the North Korean regime,” he said.