[Editorial] Too Protective of the North?

The discussion between ruling and opposition party lawmakers over the issue of North Korean counterfeiting at the National Assembly’s interpellation on reunification, diplomacy, and security issues was a reminder of the differences between American and Korean views on the issue.

Grand National Party lawmakers Kim Moon-su and Kim Jae-won unveiled a $100 “supernote” reportedly counterfeited in North Korea, and a satellite picture of a counterfeit bill production facility. “We should not take an internal approach on [the counterfeiting] issue to understand the stance of the North,” they said.

But ruling party lawmakers argued, “We should not provoke North with mere circumstantial evidence.” Uri Party lawmaker Sun Byung-ryul even said that it was illegal for the opposition party lawmakers to possess the counterfeit bills.

It is lamentable to see the ridiculous way the ruling party is responding to the opposition.

Raphael Perl, a Congressional Research Service (CRS) researcher, said in Washington yesterday, “U.S. government officials may be refraining from making comments on North Korea’s illegal activities because they are considering prosecuting the North Korean leadership for criminal activities.” This means that America may be thinking of using the case of ex-Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega as a precedent. Noriega was accused of drug trafficking, and military action was taken to bring him before a U.S. court.

It appears that the U.S. has already secured sufficient evidence of the North Korean regime’s involvement in dollar counterfeiting. The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) published a report that North Korea established national mint bureaus named, “The 101 Liaison Office” and “Pyongyang Trademark Printing Station” or “Station No. 62,” and have produced counterfeit dollars worth $10 million annually there.

But the Korean government still keeps on repeating, “We do not have solid evidence.” With regard to this attitude of the South Korean government, former White House aide Michael Green recently commented, “On the issue of North Korea’s counterfeit bills, South Korea made a stronger argument than China in asking the U.S. to halt pressure on North Korea. That attitude will make North Korea try harder to cause estrangement between South Korea and America.”

The government and the ruling party, which consistently shield the North, appear to be sticking to the logic that we should never provoke the North to manage the peace on the Korean peninsula. Such an internal approach will only lead to an estranged alliance, American ignorance of the South, and a greater possibility of international society regarding the South as “the same strange country” as North Korea.