Pro-government professor`s irrational claims

Using flawed logic, Prof. Hwang Tae-Yon of Dongguk University, who is also vice president of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party`s State Management Strategic Research Institute, said that North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il is not accountable for the 1950-53 Korean War or the North Korean bombing of a Korean Air jet in 1987. In a panel discussion at the 21st Northeast Asian Peace Forum with National Assemblymen attending, Prof. Hwang reasoned that since the Korean War broke out when Kim was a child, he is not in a position to assume any liability for the internecine conflict. He went on to contend that there is no evidence that the KAL explosion was masterminded by the North Korean leader and that it is virtually impossible probe the incident, adding that the case should be dealt with in accordance with international law.

Hwang`s assertions raises question about the depth of his knowledge as a scholar and whether Hwang`s view is shared by other members and supporters of the ruling camp. The professor is a member of the ruling party`s brain trust.

In the first place, Hwang`s contention that Kim Jong-Il was not accountable for the Korean War is base sophistry. Why are the present prime ministers of Germany and Japan even now obliged to apologize and express some sense of accountability to nations victimized by those countries, despite the fact that they were not actually responsible for provoking the Second World War and that half a century has elapsed since the war`s outbreak? According to Prof. Hwang`s logic, Korea has no justification to demand that the Japanese government offer a formal apology for atrocities against Koreans or to take issue with the Japanese military`s recruitment of Korean ``comfort women`` during the war on the grounds that Japanese Emperor Hirohito, Japan`s wartime leader, is dead. If Kim Jong-Il didn`t order the bombing of the ill-fated KAL passenger jet, who did? The truth of the incident has been revealed to a great extend. It is more than clear that even if the man who ordered the bombing was dead, it was the North Korean regime that must take responsibility for the incident. It is obvious that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il should accept accountability and apologize.

This paper has a firm position that the past wrongdoings committed by the North Korean regime should be addressed in the future. For this reason, we refrained from taking up the issue and offered our full support for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation. Notwithstanding how sensitive and complicated the topic may be, any distortion of the facts is intolerable. In order to reduce complications between the two Koreas and expand the base for public consensus, the ruling camp must come out with a clear-cut stance with regard to Prof. Hwang`s statements.