[Opinion] Yongcheon and Gaesung

Current photographs of Yongcheon and the Gaesung Industrial Complex were released yesterday. The valuable photographs certainly depict what is happening at these two sites. Although Yongcheon still seems to be in chaos, the fervor of reconstruction can be felt through the photograph. Here and there are the foundations of buildings being constructed, and also, glimpses of the outline of residential buildings can also be seen. Korean Central News Agency reported the local atmosphere by stating, “The recovery site has turned into a site of a heated melting pot.” Although it is impossible to determine whether the heavy equipment and resources we sent have arrived and were useful, the fact that the restoration project is progressing gives us relief.

The atmosphere of the Gaesung Industrial Complex which is under construction within the Gaesung Industrial District in North Korea is similar to that in Yongcheon. Next to the temporary makeshift buildings, excavators are digging in the ground quite assiduously. While it is difficult to believe the government’s assurance of success on the surface, the sight of the open plain on the horizon brings us hope for the moment. During the government’s transaction with North Korea recently, the government even made a policy to compensate 50 percent of the amount of loss within 500 million won in case of damages. As the risk bearing was reduced, there must be several businessmen who sensed the fervor in the Gaesung Industrial Complex.

The restoration of Yongcheon as well as the progress in Gaesung Industrial Complex is good news. It is because North and South Korea joined efforts and made progress whether the purpose was an emergency relief or an investment aimed at making a profit. Nevertheless, it is not enough to simply help North Korea during disasters or jointly construct an industrial complex. While giving donations, many people would have desired North Korea to transfigure into a normal country with people-first politics instead of military-first. Isn’t a foundational transformation of North Korea what we are seeking in Yongcheon and the Gaesung Industrial Complex?

The Yongcheon accident left an unexpected aftermath on us. There are people who apply the frailty of North Korea to develop logic that the Korean peninsula is not troubled. When the issue of uneasy security was proposed due to the reduction of U.S. forces in Korea, they told us to stop worrying and claimed, “Would a frail North Korea be able to attack South Korea?” However, it is not only the Yongcheon residents that threaten us. It is not the starving North Korea residents who develop nuclear weapons and fire missiles. The epicenter of the threat comes from the anachronistic power elite and military of North Korea. Despite the Yongcheon accident, they have not changed. It is worrisome that while the wound of North Korea is healing, the South-South conflict is left unchanged.

Editorial Columnist Bang Hyung-nam hnbhang@donga.com