Keeping Perspective on North Korea

When the current Korean crisis emerged, I immediately contacted the
wisest person I know on the subject. His name is Gene Matthews, and he
spent decades in South Korea as a missionary who was active in the
pro-democracy movement there.

He's a contributor to a great new book called "More Than Witnesses:
How a Small Group of Missionaries Aided Korea's Democratic Revolution."

Here's what he has to say about the current standoff.

"North Korea has always felt threatened by joint military exercises
of the U.S. and South Korea, and has always protested against them," he
says. "This time, North Korea stated that the exercises were taking
place in North Korean territory and that if shots were fired during the
exercise they would retaliate. Shots were fired (not at the North, it
should be pointed out but out toward the ocean) and the North
retaliated."

What's saddest about this standoff, he says, is that it shows how far relations have slid in the last fifteen years.

"Let's go back to 1994 when it was discovered that North Korea might
be developing nuclear weapon capability. The right wing in America had a
field day. Republicans in Congress began calling for massive bombing
raids to wipe out the North Korean nuclear facilities.

"Enter Jimmy Carter. Please check out Jimmy's article in the Washington Post.
A strong case could be made for saying that Carter's visit to the north
prevented war from breaking out. As a result of his visit The United
States and North Korea finally began talking to each other and reached
some remarkable agreements. The North agreed to destroy its small
nuclear generator in return for enough oil supplied the United States
and Japan to replace the generating capacity. Plans were even under way
to open a U.S. Embassy in North Korea. I remember receiving a phone call
from a friend in the U.S. Embassy in Seoul asking if I could recommend
somebody sufficiently fluent in Korean to work in the Pyongyang Embassy
as an interpreter. President Clinton even began to speak of a possible
visit to the north.

"The situation continued to improve dramatically with the
inauguration of Kim Dae Jung as president of South Korea in 1998. He
developed his famous "Sunshine" policy with the north. A brief, useful
description of the Sunshine Policy can be found at fact-index.com."

George W. Bush destroyed all this progress, Matthews says.

"Without being totally naive about the situation I cannot help but
feel that North and South Korea could be thrashing out the final clauses
of some kind of positive detente had George W. Bush not been appointed
U.S. president by the Supreme Court. You will recall that shortly after
his own inauguration Bush declared North Korea part of the Axis of Evil,
the terrible triumvirate of nations including Iraq and Iran which Bush
declared were intent on destroying out freedom. When Bush subsequently
attacked Iraq for no reasons that made any sense, North Korea would have
been foolish not to assume that they were also on the list of nations
to be targeted.

"In a later public statement Bush labeled North Korean President Kim
Jong Il a "moral pigmy." Very few Americans can understand how insulting
and devastating such talk is to a Korean leader. Americans tend to
judge the rest of the world by their own cultural thought patterns. For a
Korean leader to ignore such slurs would be a sign of grave weakness. I
feel this goes a long way toward explaining some of the recent
hostility displayed by the north.

"Bush was not through, however. Kim Dae Jung in two short years had
already begun implementation of his Sunshine Policy. In 2000 he had made
a historical visit to North Korea where he was warmly received. He
would later receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at bringing
peace to the Korean peninsula. Following Bush's inauguration, Kim flew
to Washington to try to persuade the new American president to continue
support of his efforts to engage the north. Instead, Bush used the
occasion to lecture Kim about how foolish he was to trust the north.
Again, very few Americans realized how harmful this was. Here was the
cocky, shallow thinking, fraternity boy lecturing an elderly man whose
entire life had been dedicated to achieving democracy in his own land,
who was carrying on delicate negotiations with one of the most unstable
regimes in the world, fully cognizant of all the pitfalls inherent in
such negotiations, willing to risk his entire political future in spite
of those pitfalls. The scene defies description.

"Kim returned to Korea realizing that not only could he not count on
support from Bush but that he now had to expand political energy to
overcome Bush's insulting behavior. Both Kim and his predecessor, Roh
Moo-Hyun, moved ahead with the Sunshine Policy not only lacking support
from Bush but now faced with Bush's seeming determination to counter any
Korean policies developed under President Clinton.

"When I last visited Korea in 2003 I was amazed to find a railroad
connection already completed between north and south. A South Korean
Industrial complex had been built in Kaesong where North Korean workers
were producing goods for sale in South Korea. Family visits were common
and South Korean tourists were making regular visits to the beautiful
Diamond Mountains of North Korea."

Things took a further turn for the worse with the election due to political changes in the South, Matthews says.

"It all began to grind to a halt with the election of Lee Myung Bak
as South Korean president in 2007. This highly successful business man
and former mayor of Seoul saw himself as a pragmatic, no-nonsense leader
who seemed determined to rule with a firm hand, almost reminiscent of
the past military dictators. He too, flew off to Washington to sit at
the feet of George Bush and came back singing Bush's praises. Almost
overnight the progress made under the two previous presidents was wiped
out. The railroads and highways were virtually closed down, tours and
family visits ceased and production at the industrial complex in Kaesong
declined dramatically. This was all combined with a vigorous renewal of
the "defensive" exercises some of which were now taking place in the
disputed boundary waters between North and South."

Nor does Matthews spare President Obama.

"One final ingredient for the stew pot is President Obama's abysmal
approach to the Korean situation. Whereas in his campaign he promised to
deal with situations like Korea through negotiation, as president he
has almost wholeheartedly embraced Bush's policies and has pledged full
support to South Korean president Lee Myung Bak's hard-line stance.

Matthews has no illusions about North Korea, but he urges us to move beyond simplistic portrayals.

"The point of this overly long backgrounder is not to paint North
Korea as blameless. By almost any measure the North is a basket case.
Its leadership is terribly paranoid, and its internal human rights
record is abominable. But Americans seem unable to see beyond the hasty
conclusions and Hollywood-type approach to any incident such as the
shelling of the island and sinking of the ship. America good. South
Korea good. North Korea bad. The end."

It's just not that simple, he says.

"American still has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea 57 years
after the cessation of hostilities. North Korea perceives their
presence, rightly or wrongly, as a threat. This perception is only
reinforced when American and South Korean forces carry out aggressive
military exercises within gunshot of North Korea."

Above all, says Matthews, we need to return to the path that was showing so much progress.

"The ways of Jimmy Carter, Kim Tae Jun and No Moo Hyun were working. The current ways are not."

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