S. Korea’s Next Unification Minister Denounced as “Collapsist” and “Neocon”

The left-wing Hankyoreh is predictably disgruntled about the new Unification Minister:

Nam [Joo Hong] is your typical member of the “school of collapse. He has consistently claimed that there are signs that a sudden situation could arise in the North, saying that it has problems in five major areas, including food, energy and succession. Immediately after the February 13 agreement was made, he said that the crisis management ability of the leadership in Pyongyang was reaching a breaking point. Naturally this leads to the position that Seoul should participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI, and put pressure on Pyongyang in the form of economic sanctions. His thinking is the same as that of the neocons who led the North Korea policy of the Bush administration before it turned out to be a failure.

Nam sees the solution to the North Korean nuclear issue to be regime change, instead of multilateral dialogue like the six-party talks. His reason is that it is too late for the North to give up its nuclear cards, so it is inevitable that the issue becomes a prolonged one. He reduces the February 13 agreement to a political deal between Pyongyang and Washington to earn time. Put simply, he thinks the collapse of the system in North Korea is what has to happen for the nuclear issue to be resolved. He cites a stronger U.S.-Korea alliance as the only alternative, so as to be prepared for such a sudden change of events. [Hankyoreh]

There’s nothing like being absolutely right to frustrate proponents of an alternative that has failed as manifestly as the Sunshine Policy. What Nam is talking about is the one plausible scenario leading to unification, and planning for the only way South Korea will ever be able to manage the challenges that poses. The Hanky is right about one thing:

There has never been anything like this in the history of the Unification Ministry.

Lee Myung Bak’s cabinet is shaping up nicely. Having the right unification policy certainly beats abolishing the entire ministry.

Update: Robert has much more on Nam. And as a pinkie ring-wearing “made” member of the militant wing of the Korea blogosphere, I affirm Robert’s judgment about my sentiments. Nam really sounds like my kind of guy. Really, how could someone the Hankyoreh hates this much not be great? I mean, when did you ever see the Hanky spew that much bile on anyone for bombing a bus, running a concentration camp, or starving a couple million people to death?