South Korea Can Hear Us

They can’t ignore our message anymore. In addition to the intense interest they’ve paid to today’s Freedom House Conference, they’re on the op-ed pages, too. Won Joon Choe e-mailed me (thanks) to point out this letter, published in yesterday’s New York Times, in response to this piece, again by Jasper Becker:

“Dancing With the Dictator,” by Jasper Becker (Op-Ed, June 9), is an unwarranted criticism of South Korea’s policy toward North Korea.

Mr. Becker alleges that “the government tries to keep South Korean newscasts from showing a smuggled tape of the public execution of ‘criminals’ by the North.” Freedom of the press is a fundamental right in Korea; leading broadcasters aired the tape in question from March 16 to 20.

Mr. Becker says “Pyongyang’s apparent preparations for nuclear weapons tests are played down.” Intelligence specialists from Korea and the United States have yet to find any unambiguous evidence of preparations for nuclear testing.

Mr. Becker also claims that “because Seoul chooses to regard the North as a friendly neighbor, it no longer wants to help North Koreans fleeing the regime.” South Korea is the only country that has a national policy of accommodating North Korean defectors, and Seoul admitted 6,700 North Koreans in recent years.

Mr. Becker asks what President Moo Hyun Roh has received “for all this appeasement.” The answer is that the government’s policy of engagement has contributed to reducing military tensions and deterring hostilities on the Korean Peninsula and noticeable changes within North Korea.

Soo-Dong O
Minister for Public Affairs
Seoul, South Korea, June 24, 2005

Some reactions:

• Several readers here and at NKZone did report having seen parts of the video on South Korean TV, contrary to what some U.S. media reported. All report having seen it just after it surfaced, which means that it’s possible that the government discouraged networks from playing it, but were slow on the attack. The evidence for this particular ban is sketchy; the evidence for a pattern of South Korean suppression of information sources critical of Kim Jong Il is fairly clear.

• The comment that there is no “unambiguous” evidence of prepping for a nuclear test misses the point. North Korea deliberately created and cultivated that speculation, and South Korea’s reaction has always been to pretend it wasn’t happening.

• “South Korea is the only country that has a national policy of accommodating North Korean defectors.” A half-truth, and only because the United States has done so badly at implenting the North Korean Human Rights Act. In fact, South Korea is making a poorly kept secret of its efforts to keep North Korean refugees out. It also misses the fact that these refugees are South Korean citizens under South Korea’s own Constitution. I’ll let the Minister of Anti-Unification himself say it:

[T]he government clearly opposes organized defections. For the people in the North to live their lives in the North with their families is necessary both for individuals and for co-existence and co-prosperity. The policies of reconciliation and cooperation call for humanitarian aid to the North along with strengthening of economic cooperation, and continuous pursuit of North Korea’s participation in the international community. . . . With this in mind, it is not desirable for anyone to organize defections, intentionally bringing people out of North Korea. In particular, this runs counter to the government’s policy of co-existence and co-prosperity. . . .

• The last part, which claims that Roh’s appeasement has reduced military tensions and caused noticeable changes in North Korea, simply flunks the laugh test. Incursions continue, North Korea recently added 1.000 tubes to its forest of artillery pointed at Seoul, and the truth of the changes in North Korea is a tragic irony: higher food prices, smaller rations, and more hunger.