“Indifference Over North Korea’s Nuclear Intimidations” Brings Anxiety

As the government takes an attitude of one-sidedly considering the standpoint of North Korea as favorable, and laying stress on the relationship between South and North Korea, an optimistic view over national security problems, far from reality, has become prevalent according to some experts.

Although Korea and the United States have quarreled over major pending problems of security in recent times, such as North Korea’s nuclear problem and the reduction of U.S. forces in Korea, the phenomenon of being insensible towards national security conditions like those which occur in some part of our society can be regarded as being closely connected with this optimism.

As a matter of fact, if the government officially mentions the lurking intimidations against national security, it will organize an unnecessary feeling of crisis. However, it cannot be denied that some part of the governmental outlooks and predictions issued after the second breakout of the North Korea nuclear crisis in October 2002 were much too optimistic.

The Minister of Unification, Jung Se-hyun, has taken the initiative in leading the optimistic views in government circles. Minister Jung, who raised a scandal with his statement in 2002 that “the bio-chemical weapons in North Korea have not been developed to be targeted against us, and there is no possibility that the inflow of dollar currencies to North Korea has been appropriated for military purposes,” is much too affirmative of the relationship between South and North Korea.

When Minister Jung refuted the criticisms, item by item, of the former secretary of the North Korean Labor Party, Hwang Jang-yeop, at a periodical briefing held last month, some officials in the Unification Ministry said, “Minister Jung seems to be determined to represent the whole ministry by himself.”

As for the report of the New York Times in its May 22 coverage of the fact that North Korea sold uranium to Iraq, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade circulated letters of explanation that “The report is different from the truth, and to confirm this, Libya has purchased uranium on the international black market.” Due to their activities, the Foreign Ministry confronted criticism from inside and outside of the government that they seemed to have elucidated the standpoint of North Korea.

--Differences of opinion between Korea and the U.S.

The former secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense, William Perry, pointed out on June 4 at an international research seminar held at Chungju University that “cooperative confrontation on the North Korea nuclear problem between the United States and Korea is hard to accomplish because the authorities regard the problem as not being high risk.”

In addition, he made remarks in regards to the difference of opinion over the North Korea nuclear problem between Korea and the U.S., saying that “some Korean governmental officials are trying to reduce the significance of the intimidation of the North Korean nuclear problem. [But] the problem is very important with regards to Korea, northeast Asia, and the world.”

At the end of the last month, a high-ranking government official from the foreign ministry visited the U.S. and tried to persuade U.S. officials by stating that “we should focus on the recent alterations of North Korea for the sake of their reformation and opening their country to foreign interaction, such as the July 1 measure of economy recovery,” but he only received cynical responses in return, saying that “North Korea intimidates international society with their development of nuclear weapons. Korea’s demeanor can give false messages to North Korea.”

--Explanations of government

The Ministry of Unification clarified that Minister Jung’s optimistic view over South-North relations is based on the peculiarities of his business. A source from the ministry remarked that “the roles of the foreign and unification ministries differ from each other. If the foreign ministry inclines towards Korea-U.S. cooperation, the unification ministry should take the role of giving support to North Korea.”

At the beginning of this year, a high-ranking official of Chong Wa Dae clearly stated at a press conference that “the government of participation never lies to the people” when he was asked, “Has Chong Wa Dae told any bona-fide lies in order to prevent the expansion of anxieties over national security even though Chong Wa Dae has practically recognized the status of crisis?”

If any special case occurs, the foreign and unification ministries would request Chong Wa Dae to “designate a course of explanation to the people,” but, Chong Wa Dae itself has never ordered a reduction of the level of address to the public, which is different from the working-level officials.

If his statement turns out to be true, it would prove that government does not consider the conditions of national security in recent times to be as serious.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com