Ruminations in Korea

“Under North Korean rule, South
Koreans would be ‘2nd-class’ people”

This is the title of an article in the April 2006 issue of The Korea Post.  There’s no by-line on the article, so I don’t know who to credit. 

The article is very straight-forward and directed at people, particularly the youth, of Korea that see no problem with North Korea and think that the North Korean government is all warm and cuddly.  Here are a few highlights from the article.

What some young people in South Korea do not realize concerning North Korea, especially the North Korean regime, is the fact that North Korea which they are seeing (superficially) is not the real North Korea.

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Some surveys indicated that a great portion of the young respondents replied that in the event of a war between North Korea and the United States they would take sides with the North and fight against the US.

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These young people know nothing about the true nature of the North Korean regime–still less what the North Korean regime is after.

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When the Korean demonstrators jump on the US armored vehicles, the US soldiers are supposed to stop them. However, from fear and possibility of being subjected to an unjustified ‘public opinion trial’ by the Korean people against them, they had to just watch them doing it with folded arms.

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It is true that the Korean government does not have open anti-American policies. All the same, however, it is difficult to find even one instance in which the Korean government is closely cooperating with the US government in dealing with many issues, including the future of ROK-US miliary cooperation, unification of the Korean peninsula, North Korea nuclear issue and North Korean counterfeit problem and the North Korean human rights situation.

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It is high time the Korean people clearly read the reality of the situation and kept their eyes wide open to prevent the failure of the state policies.

The problem with this article is that it is written in English and directed at foreign readers who already know and believe what is in the article.  Writings such as this are important (unlike my mental ramblings here on my blog) and need to be written in Korean and directed at Koreans in prominent Korean media.

To read the article in it’s entirety, read on:

Under North Korean rule, South
Koreans would be ‘2nd-class’ people

There exists a wide gap of views between the young people in Korea and the established generation. The gaps are all the wider especially between the people who did not personally experience the Korean War (1950-1953) and those who underwent the North Korean rule in South Korea for three months during North Korea’s occupation of the South in 1950. 

What some young people in South Korea do not realize concerning North Korea, especially the North Korean regime, is the fact that North Korea which they are seeing (superficially) is not the real North Korea.

Even within South Korea, when a certain party gains power, the government uses various policies in favor of the power-seat region of the party in power at the expense of the opposition party.

During the rule of a certain President and his ruling party, the rival region was kept undeveloped while his region had all the benefits of development.
Outwardly, it would appoint some Cabinet ministers from the rival region, but then they are mostly of little significance or importance.

If North Korea should succeed in occupying South Korea in the name of national unification, which is, in fact, the avowed aim of the (North) Korean Workers’ Party, the people in South Korea would be forever the ‘2nd class people’ of North Korea.

A ‘2nd class citizen’ means a social status in North Korea, which borders on the status of a slave.

Under the rule of North Korea, nobody born in South Korea would be appointed to any position of any importance or significance–with the sole exception of perhaps a handful of true pro-Kim Jong-il South Koreans. They would be given positions of some importance but then they would be only symbolic with no real power or authority.

Such were the policies North Korea used in South Korea during its rule of South Korea from June until September in 1950 when General Douglas MacArthur landed troops in Incheon and recovered the lost territory of South Korea from the North Korean regime.

Some South Koreans would be appointed as ‘chairmen of the People’s Committees of different localities, e.g., chairman of the Seoul City People’s Committee (who is comparable to South Korea’s mayor of Seoul City), but then the North Korean Communist regime assigns a North Korean-born Jidowon (an advisor, instructor or a guiding person) who has and wields all the power of the chairman of the Seoul City People’s Committee. The South Korean- born ‘chairman’ is nothing but a figurehead.

The so-called Korean War generation in Korea (now above the age of 60) know that such ideological and regional discrimination against South Koreans will continue through the succeeding generations and that the system will go on for ages.
The established generation in Korea knowing such a situation in the event of North Korea’s takeover of the South are disconcerted when they see their young ones leaning toward leftist ideology.

Some surveys indicated that a great portion of the young respondents replied that in the event of a war between North Korea and the United States they would take sides with the North and fight against the US.

And such respondents are unmistakably considered those who are opposed to the joint ROK-US military exercises and who staged demonstrations hampering the smooth progress of the joint military exercise.

These young people know nothing about the true nature of the North Korean regime–still less what the North Korean regime is after. The North Korean aim, now and forever, is unification of the Korean peninsula under their rule and using the South Korean people as ‘2nd class people’ (more correctly North Korea’s slaves).

At this juncture, an interesting article appeared in the independent daily Dong-A Ilbo on April 10, 2006. Written by Professor Kim Tae-Hyo of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, the article was to the following effect:

Organized anti-American movement by a limited number of people in South Korea is slowly causing a serious damage to the relations between the Republic of Korea and the United States. On March 30, an unexpected demonstration was carried out on the Mallipo Beach on the west coast by members of ‘National Union for the Unification of Fatherland’ and ‘People Who Open the Way toward Peaceful Unification of Korea’ demanding suspension of the Combined ROK-US Military Exercise on the beach. The surprise demonstration temporarily caused suspension of the miliary exercise.
Then there is the ‘National Countermeasure Committee against Expansion of US Military Base in Pyeongtaek Area’ which has been occupying a part of the area allocated for the construction new military establishments for the relocation of US Armed Forces there under an agreement signed between the two countries.
On both occasions, the activities are illegal and they are a cause for serious worry. They are punishable under the provisions of the law governing Special Activities Obstructing the Discharge of Official Duty.

Some farmers have already sown seeds in the land that now belongs to the Ministry of National Defense, and obstructed the work of the ROK and US military surveyors.
They are doing so probably because of the ruling of the Supreme Court which stipulated that if the plants grow 5 centimeters from the seeds the farmers can claim a certain measure of rights to them and are entitled to compensations even though they do not own the land where they planted the seeds.

What worries the Korean people more, however, is not so much the illegal activities of such people as the lukewarm attitude on the part of the government towards such cases.

Since 2002, the combined ROK-US military exercises have been seriously hampered by such surprise demonstrators. However, the government actions against them have been like giving lawbreakers a bastinado with a cotton-padded cudgel.

In July last year, some 7,000 demonstrators from the Democratic Labor Party, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Hancheongnyeon (Alliance of the Korean University Student Associations) and independent opposition organizations cut about 57 meters of the barbed wire fence of a US military base (Camp Humphrey).

The police action against this serious national security case consisted only of bringing charges against seven persons without physical restraint and summons notices sent to 14 others.

When the Korean demonstrators jump on the US armored vehicles, the US soldiers are supposed to stop them. However, from fear and possibility of being subjected to an unjustified ‘public opinion trial’ by the Korean people against them, they had to just watch them doing it with folded arms. And furthermore this is not an isolated incident.

It is good news that the Military of National Defense on April 7 prohibited farming on the land in Paengseong-up, Pyeongtaek City where the US military base is scheduled to be built.

However, it appears that control on unauthorized farming in the area will not be easy judging from the die-hard attitude and spirit on the part of the demonstrating farmers.

The government has been taking measures to help the local people with their relocation and livelihood according to the Special Law on Support of Pyeongtaek Area. However, the farmers are resisting the government with support given them by non-farmer outsider activists. Under the pretext of helping the people of Pyeongtaek, these activists are trying to resist the relocation of the US military bases to Pyeongtaek and thereby jeopardizing the ROK-US relations. They are playing a dangerous game which could rock the national security of the Republic of Korea to its very foundation.

The working-level officials of the Korean military authorities and civilian police have failed to take a clear-cut attitude against such demonstrators and this is due to the convention in the Korean officialdom where they tend to act according to their understanding of the unannounced inner intentions of their superiors.

If the working-level officials carry out their duties on the dictates of their patriotism and conscience, they know that they will be labeled as those who have faith but not ability to ‘read the mind’ of their superiors.

It is true that the Korean government does not have open anti-American policies. All the same, however, it is difficult to find even one instance in which the Korean government is closely cooperating with the US government in dealing with many issues, including the future of ROK-US miliary cooperation, unification of the Korean peninsula, North Korea nuclear issue and North Korean counterfeit problem and the North Korean human rights situation.

The unclear pro-US policies of the Korean government are offering the out-and-out anti-US activists a ground for more vigorous activities and make them loom large.
At the outset of the Roh Moo-hyun Administration, the ROK-US relations faltered at one time because of the out-spoken anti-US people surrounding Roh.

With the passage of time, however, the Roh government has somewhat begun returning to the original orbit of Korean-American relations after personally experiencing the cold reality of the international political arena where it has obviously realized that changing the ROK-US relations is not an easy thing.

However, if the Roh Government chants the importance of ROK-US relations only in words but fail to faithfully cooperate and coordinate in deed with the US in implementing policies, the bilateral relations will not work properly.

Korea must realize that it should continue to enjoy the trust and respect of the US as a result of diplomacy that is based on consistency between words and deeds. Only this way, Korea will be able to maintain a sound ground in the international arena.
The lifespan of an administration is short but that of international relationship is long and continuing.

The relocation of the US military bases is supposed to be completed by the end of 2008 and inevitably the matter is to be turned over to the next administration.
Even if the ROK-US FTA (free trade agreement) negotiations are completed by March 2007, political debates on the matter, including its ratification at the National Assembly, will be turned over to the politicians of the next term.

Political views and discussions are not always truly for the sake of the future of the Republic of Korea. On the contrary, they are trying to disclose the weak points of the other side and bring discredit to them. Taking advantage of such a quagmire of political strife, the smart and uncompromising anti-US activists continue to inflict damage to the healthy relations between Korea and the US.

It is high time the Korean people clearly read the reality of the situation and kept their eyes wide open to prevent the failure of the state policies.