[Editorial] Getting N. Korea and Japan policy back on track

Posted on : 2008-07-19 11:57 KST Modified on : 2008-07-19 11:57 KST

A meeting of the National Security Council was held for the first time since President Lee Myung-bak’s inauguration on Friday, eight and five days, respectively, since the shooting death of a South Korean tourist at Mount Geumgang and the outbreak of the latest Dokdo affair. The Blue House was criticized for taking too long to report the shooting to the president and so it was even late in holding an NSC meeting. It’s not just a single screw that is loose, it’s a complete system breakdown. It is time to completely rebuild the decision-making system for crisis management and security policy, and to revive the NSC secretariat.

Even more important will be setting policy on the North and Japan right again. The administration has been disappointing in this regard as of late, because it appears to be turning to an unstudied hard-line reaction instead of looking at the policies on Pyongyang and Tokyo that were the backstory to these two fronts and formulating a new approach based on that. It is inappropriate, to begin with, to be carelessly talking about halting inter-Korean projects that have no direct relevance to the shooting. Stopping tours to Gaeseong (Kaesong) would only make resolving the shooting incident more difficult and could end up being something that could turn inter-Korean relations back to the point of being irreparable.

The poor state of relations with the North since President Lee came to office is a big part of why what was largely an accident is not being easily resolved. The situation will invariably grow worse if Lee’s administration tries to use what happened to rationalize its existing North Korea policy. It is right to be demanding of the North a real inquiry and measures to assure nothing like this ever happens again, but this should not be the whole of the relationship. Comments that link the incident with the six-party talks are extremely dangerous. It needs a more profoundly changed North Korea policy if something better is to come from what happened.

The administration is also lacking in self-reflection towards its approach to Japan. By voluntarily laying down its arms on issues of the past, President Lee left room for Dokdo to become an issue. One example would be how the government’s “Support Committee for Deceased Koreans Forcibly Conscripted in the Pacific War,” which only got started last month, has been unable to start its operations for a lack of funding and personnel. Siding with Japan in the abductee issue when Japan is essentially using the issue to hinder the six-party talks is also problematic. Even during the Cold War there was criticism of the idea of a tripartite alliance between South Korea, Japan, and the United States, and there are still people in government who think that would be a good plan. Before Lee speaks out about a strong approach to Japan, he needs to change his irresponsible and antihistorical attitude.

At least Lee’s administration has been given an opportunity to set its policies towards Pyongyang and Tokyo right early in the president’s term. We hope he will engage in agonizing thought about what it means to be Korean.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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