hankyoreh

Michiel Hoogeveen, a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula, spoke to the Hankyoreh at the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum in Seoul’s Mapo District on Sept. 19. (Noh Ji-won/The Hankyoreh)

A member of the European Parliament said “there’s no way” that North Korea would agree to talks predicated on denuclearization, adding that it’s time to accept the reality that the North is a nuclear-weapon state.

Michiel Hoogeveen, 33, who is on the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula, expressed his viewpoint on North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons and on the stalled talks about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in an interview with the Hankyoreh at the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum in Seoul’s Mapo District, on Monday.

Hoogeveen said he couldn’t help reaching that conclusion because he’s “a realist” who looks “at how the world is, not how it should be.”

Hoogeveen entered the European Parliament in 2019, when the Korean Peninsula peace process was still moving forward. Currently, he is vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and is also active on the Committee on International Trade and the Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula, among other bodies.

Hoogeveen belongs to JA21, a conservative party in the Netherlands. While working as a social science researcher, he's taken three trips to North Korea since 2014, visiting Pyongyang, Wonsan, Mt. Kumgang and the Masikryong Ski Resort, to see for himself how the North Korean economy works.

The Dutch lawmaker first got interested in North Korea in high school after watching a documentary about the country. While studying economics in university and international relations in graduate school, he began considering whether North Korea could be changed through trade. He also researched the “Sunshine Policy” formulated by former President Kim Dae-jung and the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

Hoogeveen's decision to visit North Korea in person followed a presentation he made in Istanbul, Turkey, during his time as a researcher. The presentation sparked a sharp debate with another researcher who was there from the North.

“North Korea says it’s willing to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but it could take decades or generations to achieve that final goal,” Hoogeveen said.

But the tendency of the US and other Western powers to ask for denuclearization at the beginning of talks is not only unrealistic but also counterproductive. North Korea already possesses nuclear weapons and is able to mount them on missiles of various ranges. Demanding a de facto nuclear-weapon state that has already carried out six nuclear weapon tests to give up its nukes is a nonstarter, Hoogeveen said.

“The fact is that North Korea conducted nuclear tests, they have nuclear weapons. They invested billions of dollars in acquiring them. And then the mistake that’s constantly made by either presidents or policymakers or negotiators is that they [. . .] start with the conclusion which is denuclearization [in the negotiations],” the Dutch lawmaker said. “There’s no way for North Korea to accept it.”

Hoogeveen said that the “audacious initiative” that the Yoon administration has proposed as a roadmap for denuclearization — which amounts to a massive upgrade of the North Korean economy provided that the North halts its nuclear program and takes meaningful steps toward denuclearization — reminded him of the Vision 3000 initiative crafted by former President Lee Myung-bak.

“They say, ‘Show me your arsenal of nuclear weapons, give up your nuclear weapons and we will parachute in McDonald’s and condos to Wonsan,’” he said. “According to the North Koreans, this is a bribe — you’re saying you will bribe them out of their nuclear arms.”

“According to the regime, it’s like giving in to imperialism, giving in to bribes, and so they’ll never accept it.”

While Hoogeveen supports Yoon’s plans to invest economically in North Korea, he said that “if you start at the conclusion, you’ll never succeed with North Korea. [. . .] If you want to get rid of the nukes, you should stop talking about the nukes.”

Hoogeveen also made some incisive comments about the Biden administration’s North Korea policy. “They’re taking the same route as Obama. They’re doing strategic patience 2.0,” he said. “I think that’s also the wrong direction.”

Furthermore, Hoogeveen suggested that North Korea is extremely unlikely to preemptively abandon its nuclear program considering that Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Libya, was killed following a NATO raid just two months after Kim Jong-un took power in December 2011 and that Ukraine, which gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for a security guarantee in 1994, has been invaded by Russia.

The lawmaker also questioned the effectiveness of the economic sanctions that the US and the UN Security Council has imposed on North Korea. “I think sanctions hurt the wrong people. You're not hitting the regime — you’re hitting the common people, the fishermen in Wonsan or the farmer from Sariwon,” he said, arguing that the sanctions give Pyongyang an excuse to blame the country’s impoverishment on the West.

After traveling around North Korea, Hoogeveen said, he realized that the sanctions are “targeting the wrong people,” which he said changed his perspective. If anything, he said, “the sanctions are a blessing for the regime.”

He also observed that the sanctions are unlikely to work because of China, which needs North Korea as a “buffer state.”

“They’ll continue to go along with some international sanctions, but they’ll continue to be a lifeline to the North Koreans.”

Hoogeveen suggested that instead of a “parachuting in McDonald’s” approach, efforts could start with “setting up joint ventures” along the lines of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

“When I was in North Korea, I had the sense that they were willing to have these kinds of investments,” he said, which he sees as a good way to build trust.

Hoogeveen concluded that instead of demanding a commitment to denuclearize from the very beginning, starting with cultural and economic exchange along the lines of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, tourism to Mt. Kumgang and reunions for the divided families could help build trust between South and North Korea and between North Korea and the US, which could then build momentum for denuclearization talks.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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