hankyoreh

North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), an extra-governmental organization within the Workers’ Party of (North) Korea Unified Front Department, issued a call on Nov. 3 for South Koreans of every class “not to permit the Saenuri Party’s attempt to continue in power, but to use this election to bring about a change in administrations.” Through a report from its secretariat, the committee called the Saenuri Party (NFP) “a disaster for the [Korean] people and the root cause of all manner of misfortune.” It went on say, “If the Saenuri Party, that collection of conservative antiques, takes the presidency, not only will South Chosun [South Korean] society and North-South relations be the same as under the Lee Myung-bak administration, but it will mean the revival of the Yushin dictatorship, which will only bring fascist oppression and war.” These remarks represent an inappropriate and blatant attempt to interfere in South Korea’s election, and North Korea must stop this kind of incitement.

It makes sense that Pyongyang would be watching the South Korean election closely, just as Seoul is very interested in changes that affect the North Korean regime due to its own concerns about the country’s development and stability and the eventual reunification of the two Koreas. But it crosses the line to tell South Korean voters just whom they should or should not vote for. It is obvious interference in South Korean affairs to go beyond mere analysis or projections into outright calls to action. To do so flies in the face of Chapter 1 (on inter-Korean conciliation) in the Basic Agreement of 1991, which is primarily about North and South recognizing and respecting each other’s regimes, refraining from interference in internal issues, and avoiding slander and defamation. Pyongyang needs to acknowledge the importance of the July 4 Joint Declaration and Basic Agreement as much as its values the June 15 and October 4 Declarations.

More important than international law or inter-Korean agreements, however, is the fact that Pyongyang’s words will never have the desired effect. Indeed, North Korea must be aware of the fact that this will only deepen South Korea‘s distrust of it. In the past, we have seen numerous examples of the North Korea issue being used in major elections, but the more this has happened, the more voters have tended to go in the opposite direction. Inter-Korean summit announcements came just before the April 2000 parliamentary elections and 2007 presidential election, yet the opposition ended up winning. The hastily organized ROKS Cheonan investigation announcement before the 2010 local elections also backfired. If either side, North or South, believes it is possible to sway voters by using the looming North Korea threat, they are guilty of both an anachronism and an insult to voters.

The Saenuri Party responded to the CPRF statement with a rebuttal in which it claimed that North Korea was trying to “help out its brethren in the South.” This “criticism” of North Korea comes across as a nasty bit of red-baiting against an opposition candidate. To use a North Korean statement as a way of slinging mud at the political opposition plays into Pyongyang’s hands, giving it exactly the internecine divisions it wants. The best way to stop North Korea from interfering in the election is for both sides to unite in deploring its bad behavior.

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