How to bring peace to Korean Peninsula

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By W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-06 07:45

The United Nations Security Council adopted a statement condemning the recent rocket launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). This in turn has provoked the DPRK to declare that it would restart its nuclear program. This is likely to bring sanctions against Poyongyang, which in turn could make it more aggressive.

If that were to happen, the cycle of confrontation between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the DPRK will continue to be reinforced. But this is a false track based on mutual suspicion and fear. The right one is exactly the opposite.

When Korea was divided in 1948, there were three important factors or variables, which have now changed. First, many economies were on the rise. Second, there were no noticeable environment problems. Third, the communist ideology was still spreading. Today, that global picture has changed completely. We now face a global economic crisis that is seriously hurting many countries. There is a grave poverty problem all over the world. Every second, people are dying because of malnutrition. We are confronted with dire environmental challenges such as pollution, shortage of water and global warming. There is a growing understanding that our natural resources are limited and that the environment pays a high price for development. Finally, we agree on most things than disagree.

In the period following the 1948 division and the subsequent Korean War, the DPRK and the ROK both would define their policies toward one another on the basis of the external circumstances in which they existed. But now since the Berlin Wall has come down, the Soviet Union has disintegrated,it is likely that the DPRK would soften its ideological stance. Besides, there are urgent economic and environmental problems that the DPRK and the ROK both need to address and resolve. Thus it is the right time for both countries to review their policies and attitudes toward one another .

The unification of Germany can teach a lesson. It shows how high the price of a country's unification really is. Despite the German capital having being moved from Bonn in West Germany to Berlin in the East and billions of euros injected into the eastern part of the country, many west Germans believe east Germans are still unlike them in thoughts, habits and behavior. After living for many years under two different political systems, people of a reunited Germany are like the citizens of two different countries.

Likewise, people in the DPRK today are certainly different from their brethren in the ROK in many ways. These differences, combined with realist political thinking, are strong enough to remove the pressure for unification.

Since the global ideological confrontation has lost its force, the idea that one side could impose its political system on another should be given up. The DPRK and the ROK should recognize themselves as two independent political identities, enter into normal diplomatic relationships, respect their ideological differences and treat one another as partners in cooperation rather than enemies.

Today, more than ever, humanity needs to cooperate. In this world of acute economic pressures and environmental challenges, it is an act of extravagance to divert a country's resources to the development of expensive means of destruction.

Since the DPRK and the ROK live in a state of mutual suspicion, which contributes to their large military spending, it is high time they began building relations of trust on the basis of mutual recognition. They should gradually develop different forms of transnational cooperation such as cultural and educational exchange programs between schools and universities. Fear will wither away with the growth of trust and increase in contacts.

To break the cycle of confrontation, the two sides have to establish a genuine desire to cooperate on the basis of mutual recognition. Instead of finding less or more subtle ways of criticizing and insulting one another, they should both find the courage to engage in a friendly gesture despite their past. They must realize that their existing relations will take them on a road to nowhere, and that it is time they find the right way.

The author is associate professor and international scholar with the School of International Studies, Kyung Hee University, ROK.

(China Daily 05/06/2009 page9)