Op-Ed Contributors

DPRK integrity important for peace

By Men Honghua and Xiao Xi (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-01 07:46

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday vowed to take "resolute military measures" against the joint military exercises held by the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States from Monday.

The US and the ROK are holding the drills to reportedly force the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons program. They also intend to test the practicability of their "plan for a local war" against the DPRK, even though some media outlets claim that the drills are "defensive in nature".

The joint military exercises held by the United States and the ROK since last year have pushed the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war several times. The main reason behind the actions of the US and the ROK is rumors of the DPRK's collapse.

Such rumors have been doing the rounds ever since the death of DPRK leader Kim Il-sung in 1994, but they seem to have gained strength in recent years. Since last year, the media in the ROK and the US have been trumpeting the "DPRK collapse" theory, claiming that the country's "military first policy" has spelled "doom" for its economy and would ultimately lead to its collapse.

They also say the DPRK's poorly equipped military, with its internal strife, can be crushed quickly by the well-equipped and disciplined US-ROK coalition forces in case a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

That's not the end of US-ROK speculations. They have devised an emergency response plan to deal with the "impending DPRK collapse". The ROK has even assumed that 2011 would be the year of Korean reunification and is preparing for a Germany-style "reunification".

The "DPRK collapse" theory is the result of some countries' guesswork, distortion of facts and outright hostility toward Pyongyang. The Korean Peninsula issue has been plaguing the US since the beginning of the Cold War. The US is pinning its hopes on the collapse of the DPRK's political leadership. Of late, it has started believing that the DPRK's "collapse" is a precondition for it to play a greater role in East Asia.

On its part, the ROK wants to dominate the "reunification" process.

In contrast, the DPRK has changed its aggressive stance, speaking for the denuclearization of the Peninsula and showing its readiness to restart the Six-Party Talks. The change may have come because it has not been able to realize any of its three goals: security guarantee, political recognition and economic turnaround. It has said that it wants a peaceful environment to focus on its economic reconstruction, and implement new economic policies and strengthen economic cooperation with China and Russia.

But the latest US-ROK military drills have forced the DPRK to react differently.

The situation on the Peninsula is directly related to China's security. The Peninsula has always been a strategic buffer zone for China, so the security dilemma there has created uncertainty for China's peaceful development.

Besides, the US is using the Peninsula issue both as a tool to contain China and an excuse to return to East Asia. But Washington's attempt to use the joint military drills with Seoul to deter Pyongyang has been a failure.

China's policy has always been to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, because an all-out war on the Peninsula will not only hurt the DPRK and the ROK, but also undermine peace and stability in the region and jeopardize the security and economic development of neighboring countries such as China. That's why Beijing has been opposing any provocative action by any of the parties.

Some countries want a fundamental change in the security situation on the Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia, assuming the DPRK will "collapse" sooner than later. But they have not seriously studied the grave consequences that a nation's collapse brings with it.

Since China knows the consequences, it rejected some "experts' advice" to "abandon the DPRK" and, instead, appealed to relevant parties to maintain calm, exercise restraint, exhibit responsibility and make more efforts to ease the situation. Beijing has promised to work with all the parties involved to maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula.

China has warned the US and the ROK, too, that their joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea could deteriorate the situation further. It has not only strengthened political relations with the DPRK and sent high-level delegations to that country, but also expressed its willingness to work with the other parties to prevent escalation of tensions on the Peninsula.

The key to resolving the issue is to blow away the Cold War clouds gathering over the Peninsula, and the propagation of the "DPRK collapse" theory cannot do that. Therefore, all the parties involved in the dispute should help the DPRK integrate into the international community. To this end, Beijing has been providing necessary assistance to Pyongyang and expanding economic cooperation with it. Its intention is to help Pyongyang cope with the economic and financial sanctions imposed by the West on it.

China should further deepen its political connection with the DPRK with the aim of encouraging it to integrate into the international community in a constructive way, dismantle its nuclear weapons program and create conditions for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks for a long-lasting resolution of the Peninsula issue. China's relationship with the DPRK should also be aimed at making the latter contribute to regional and international economic and security cooperation.

Men Honghua is a professor of international studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Xiao Xi is an associate professor at the Department of International Politics, Jilin University.