[Opinion] “National Event”

“The nuclear test was a national event that produced a powerful weapon for the eternal prosperity of the people.” The North Korean Workers’ Party congratulated themselves in an ideology lecture for the party members and people after the nuclear tests on October 9. The mentioning of the incident as a national event was followed by, “The success of our nuclear test is a historical incident to be recorded in our 5,000-year history as well as world political history,” and, “The nuclear test is an incident bringing forth national prosperity that heralds the dawn of a country of strength.” It was casuistry that befitted a group which hoodwinked its people for more than half a century with its obsolete Juche ideology.

They caused North Korea to plummet as one of the world’s poorest countries and drove millions of people into famine and death. To state that nuclear weapons are tools to advance the nation’s eternal prosperity would be to assume that it is a magic wand. North Korea expert Park Gwan-yong, former chair of the National Assembly, defined nuclear weapons as a “malicious tumor.” In his book “Unification Will Come in A Landslide,” he forecasted that “they will make the malicious tumor of nuclear weapons, and North Korea will self-destruct because of this.”

In the August edition of the PR magazine “Geumsugangsan,” the North Korean government supported holding nuclear weapons by stating, “It is the nuclear umbrella for the nation that will secure the safety of the entire Chosun people.” At the July inter-Korean Ministerial level meetings in Seoul in July, Kwon Ho-woong, Cabinet advisor, insisted, “The former leader(Kim Il Sung) is also protecting the security of South Korea.” This may have been directed to South Korea’s pro-North leftist forces. Our society contains quite a few people who agree with North Korea’s opinion that lacks logic or reality. It is a world where finalists for the bar exams say, “Our main enemy is the United States.” North Korea’s propaganda and South Korea’s engagement policy have encouraged this situation.

On December 3, the American newspaper Los Angeles Times assessed Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world’s largest shipbuilding company, as a “symbol of resurrection that arose from the ashes of war.” But this newspaper pointed out that considering the tension from the nuclear test, Hyundai Heavy Industries symbolizes the South Korean economy that is placed in danger. It was a warning that North Korea’s nuclear test may grievously harm the national prosperity that has been achieved with difficulty on one side of the peninsula. To state that nuclear weapons are tools to advance the eternal prosperity of the nation, one is led to wonder who the “nation” may be.

Kwon Soon-taek, Editorial Writer, maypole@donga.com