ROK and Inter-Korean relations January 2009

ROK and Inter-Korean relations

January 2009

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Seoul Says No to N.Korean Won in Propaganda Leaflets
The government on Wednesday said it will not permit activists to bring in North Korean won to send back to the North attached to anti-communist propaganda leaflets. Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun told reporters activists who do so without the minister's permission would violate Article 13 of the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Act. This carries a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to W10 million (US$1=W1,378).
Man who resisted fighting Gwangju protesters cited
Sick with guilt, former paratrooper wins status as a ‘National Meritorious Person’ January 29, 2009 Kim Dong-kwan, center, won “National Meritorious Person” status from a local court on Jan 23. Kim has been suffering severe mental illness since he was sent to crack down on demonstrators during the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980. By Kim Kyung-bin A court has ordered a veterans’ office to grant “National Meritorious Person” status to a 51-year-old man who has suffered from schizophrenia since he served as a paratrooper cracking down on demonstrators during the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980. Kim Dong-kwan was a student activist at Korea University’s College of Political Science and Economics in the late 1970s and was strongly opposed to then-President Park Chung Hee’s Yusin [“revitalizing reform”] policy. However, he was conscripted into the Third Special Airborne Force Brigade in 1979 and later sent to Gwangju, in a drive to suppress massive civil protests that broke out from May 18 to May 27, 1980. He was issued live ammunition to fire at protesters, and sometimes had to dig graves to bury the dead. [Human rights]
Pop culture from Seoul makes inroads in North
January 09, 2009 A growing number of North Koreans, long considered to be the most reclusive and repressed populations in the world, are embracing South Korean pop culture through both a prospering black market and direct exposure in state-run media, according to sources and experts in Seoul. On Jan. 4, the Korea Central TV Station broadcast a soccer match between Britain’s Manchester United and Ecuador’s Liga de Quito. Among the players was Park Ji-sung, the first South Korean soccer player to join the top British team. A broadcaster touted Park as “a top South Korean player with the capability of two players.” About three weeks ago, Kim Yong-chul, the North Korean lieutenant general in charge of senior-level military talks with the South, quoted a famous line from “Lee San,” a popular South Korean TV drama based on the Joseon Dynasty. [Softpower]
Korea to Swap Landmines for Remote-Controlled 'Spider Bombs'
Korea will deploy remote-controlled so-called spider bombs instead of landmines along expected attack routes as early as 2014. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Tuesday said the weapons are similar to the "spider bombs" the U.S. military is developing, touted as intelligent bombs that can be deployed along expected enemy infiltration routes and controlled, triggered or dismantled by remote control. [Military balance]
NK Denounces Seoul Over Military Drill
North Korea denounced Seoul’s military exercises on Monday, claiming that the South prepares for a war against the North, and warned that it will "mercilessly" wipe out invaders should war break out. [Military balance]
NK Blasts Seoul's New Unification Minister
North Korea Sunday criticized South Korea for appointing what they call a hawkish scholar as the new unification minister in charge of relations with Pyongyang, calling the appointment an "outright challenge," according to Yonhap News Sunday. Last week, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak named Hyun In-taek, a political science professor at Korea University, as Seoul's new pointman on North Korea in a partial Cabinet reshuffle.
439 civilians confirmed dead in Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising of 1948
New report by the Truth Commission places blame on Syngman Rhee and the Defense Ministry, advises government apology The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said yesterday that it has confirmed at least 439 civilians were killed in a massacre known in Korea as the Yeo-Sun incident, which took place about six decades ago in Yeosu and Suncheon, two villages in South Jeolla Province. The Yeo-Sun incident erupted in October 1948 when approximately 2,000 left-wing soldiers rebelled against the government in protest against its heavy-handed clampdown on an uprising on the southern island of Jeju months earlier. The rebels, frequently referred to as “partisans,” staged guerrilla-style fights against the military and took cover on Mount Baekun and Mount Jiri. When the government intervened to quash the uprising, a large number of civilians lost their lives. [Human rights] [Syngman Rhee]
Hyundai Heavy Industries to Build New Frigate
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter Hyundai Heavy Industries has been awarded a contract to build the lead ship of the South Korean Navy's new 2,300 ton-class frigates to begin service in 2011, a military source said Wednesday. [Military balance]
Task Force for Inter-Korean Relations Planned
By Kim Sue-young Staff Reporter The government is considering establishing a taskforce to map out mid- and long-term measures regarding relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, a government source said Wednesday. The move comes as President Lee Myung-bak instructed the Ministry of Unification to work out a wider range of plans for inter-Korean ties during a briefing session last week. [SK NK policy]
The Lee Myung-bak Government’s Policy Toward the DPRK after Barack Obama’s Inauguration
By Kim Yeoncheol Translated into English by Nan Zaijun. January 6th, 2009
Kim Yeoncheol, Director of the Hankyoreh Peace Institute (http://koreahana.net/sub05_01_1.htm), writes, “If the government misses the time to engage the North, it will only be more time consuming and expensive to compensate later… The government should think about its long term future… The tension in the inter-Korean relationship is becoming more intense. If we don’t act now there will be only more regret for the wasted time and lost opportunities in the future.” [SK NK policy] `
Novelist Reveals Herself as Ghostwriter of KAL Bomber
Novelist Noh Soo-min, right, revealed that she was the ghostwriter for Kim Hyun-hee, the former North Korean agent who blew up the Korean Air (KAL) flight 858 in 1987. / Yonhap By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter Novelist Noh Soo-min, 59, revealed that she was the ghostwriter of the autobiography of Kim Hyun-hee, the former North Korean agent behind the Korean Air Lines (KAL) flight 858 bombing in 1987. ``I wrote the two autobiographies, 1991’s ``I Want to Be a Woman Now’’ and 1992’s ``I Cry When I Feel Love’’ after spending almost two years with Kim, at the request of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (the predecessor of the National Intelligence Service or NIS) in 1990,’’ she told the Yonhap News Agency during a phone interview. Her ghostwriting was first known in Japan via numerous interviews with Japanese media. Noh also wrote a memoir called ``The Bare Faces of Terrorists,’’ based on the incident, in a Japanese weekly magazine. Noh explained that she didn’t reveal that she was a ghostwriter because she ``promised she would not reveal the request and because it was nothing to be proud of as a writer herself.’’ ``But when I heard about her pain through her recently revealed letters, I thought it was my duty as a writer to say everything I knew for her sake, not mine,’’ she added. Kim revealed two letters last year, through famed columnist Jo Gap-je’s Web site, stating that she was pressured in 2003 to say that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did not order her to bomb the aircraft. ``There were suspicions about Kim really being North Korean, but from her quirks and mannerisms, I was completely convinced that she was from North Korea,’’ Noh said. The writer added that she has not contacted Kim ever since and that she does not know her whereabouts. Noh has published numerous novels, the latest being ``Uleommagyo,’’ which was released last month. The Nov. 29, 1987 KAL flight 858 election year bombing by North Korean agent Kim killed all 115 people on board. Kim was sentenced to death in 1989, but was released on a pardon in 1990. Skepticism arose regarding the true identity of the agent and the tragedy, given the hasty conclusions of the previous Chun Doo-hwan administration. The NIS panel announced publicly that the Chun government used the incident to its advantage in the election, despite having no foreknowledge of it, in 2006. Kim is currently married with two children. [KAL858] [Propaganda]
KAL 858 Bomber 'Definitely N.Korean Agent'
The biographer of the last surviving bomber of Korean Air flight 858 has dismissed recently resurfaced claims that the incident was in fact a plot by South Korean agencies. Noh Su-min, who wrote the book titled "I Now Want to Become a Woman," says Kim Hyun-hee was "definitely" a North Korean agent. It was the first comment on the matter by Noh, who had been avoiding the press since the issue made fresh headlines amid allegations that the previous administration encouraged a revisionist conspiracy theory of the 1987 incident that would make the military government of the time look bad. [KAL858]
Buddhist leader gets North’s South policy spot
January 05, 2009 Yu Yong-sun, a 68-year-old Buddhist leader, has become North Korea’s senior South Korea policy maker, a top Seoul official told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday. Choe Sung-chol, deputy director of the United Front Department of the North Korean Workers’ Party, was in charge of Pyongyang’s South Korean affairs until early last year. After he lost the job, Yu, head of the Korean Buddhists Federation, was appointed to the post, the source said. [Religion]
Communist Sympathizers, Strikers Face Crackdown
By Park Si-soo Staff Reporter The nation's top prosecutor said Friday in his New Year's message that the prosecution will eradicate leftists spreading communist ideology. Prosecutor General Lim Chae-jin said, ``Those who deny the nation's pro-democracy identity and attempt to destabilize society are to be punished. [Human rights]
Traitor Lee Myung Bak's Anti-Reunification Remarks Rebuffed
Pyongyang, January 4 (KCNA) -- Lee Myung Bak, when receiving a "report on the work for the new year" from the puppet Ministry of Unification on December 31 last year, described last year as a "period of adjusting the south-north relations" and blustered that "the inter-Korean relations should not be judged with a short-sighted view" and "the south-north issues should be settled from a long-term viewpoint". Minju Joson Sunday observes in a signed commentary in this regard: This revealed his intention to cover up the crimes he committed by deteriorating the inter-Korean relations last year and escalate the confrontation with fellow countrymen this year.
N.Korea Calls for Uprising in the South
North Korea on Thursday called on South Koreans to rise up against their government. "The South Korean people should more actively kindle the flames of a struggle crushing the fascist rule of the conservative authorities," a New Year's statement issued by Workers Party, Army and youth military said. It slammed the Lee Myung-bak government as "a ruling force intent on reviving fascist dictatorship and inter-Korean confrontation, totally denying the June 15, 2000 and Oct. 4, 2004 Summit Declarations." It is unusual for the annual New Year's editorial, which usually sums up the policies of leader Kim Jong-il, to call for an uprising in the South. [Media] [Spin]
Lee Myung-bak responds to harsh criticism from North in New Year’s speech
President heightens tension between two Koreas by urging the North to abandon its ‘outdated’ policy The New Year has begun with an intensification of the war of nerves between South and North Korea. In a joint editorial summarizing North Korea’s policy goals for 2009, published in the Rodong Sinmun and other North Korean newspapers on the first of the year, North Korea leveled harsh criticism at the South Korean administration of President Lee Myung-bak, calling it a “fascist dictatorship” and a “racketeer” operation. Lee hit back in a New Year’s address aired nationwide on Friday, in which he urged the North to abandon a policy he characterized as outdated.
Seoul Has Not Changed NK Policy
By Michael Ha Staff Reporter President Lee Myung-bak's remarks on North Korea in his New Year speech Friday would not have impressed Pyongyang, which wants a U-turn from what it calls a hawkish stance. Lee reiterated his previous position by saying, ``South-North relations should be resolved smoothly with a more flexible and mature attitude.'' He added, `` It is about time the South and North overcame confrontation and conflict and opened a new age of cooperative coexistence and co-prosperity. I hope that North Korea will be able to read the change of the times and forge ahead with us for a bright future.'' ``I am willing to engage in dialogue with the North at any time and am ever ready to cooperate with it as a partner. It is my earnest wish that the North will unshackle itself from old, outmoded tactics of instigating conflict within the South and will come forward with a cooperative attitude,'' the president said. But he failed to mention anything regarding what Pyongyang demands as a precondition for resuming inter-Korean dialogue.
Gov't Approval Rating Plummets Amid Bickering
Approval ratings for the ruling Grand National Party have dropped and those for the main opposition Democratic Party have risen slightly, with the number of people who support no parties rising. Many people cite politics, not the economy, as the main reason why Korea has yet to join the group of advanced nations. In the poll by the Korea Social Science Data Center on Dec. 26-27, the GNP's approval rating was 29.7 percent, down 12.1 percentage points from the last poll on Dec. 23-25, 2007, right after the presidential election. The results were published in the Seoul Shinmun on Thursday. It was conducted among 1,000 men and women 19 or older across the country. The low approval rating for the GNP was presumably due in large part to the recession and ugly scenes in parliament. The approval rating for the DP was a mere 9.5 percent, up a fraction from a year earlier. Amid widespread disaffection with politicians, a majority supported no parties, which at 53.8 percent was up 8.3 percentage points. A mere 15.8 percent approved of President Lee Myung-bak's performance, as compared to 36 percent who disapproved. Some 40.9 percent said his performance was "average."
Activists Resume Sending Propaganda to N.Korea
Activists resumed sending anti-communist leaflets to North Korea after a month of voluntary suspension at the request of the government and the ruling party. Some 50 members of an association of 24 conservative civic groups on Thursday gathered in Imjingak Plaza in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, to attach 3,000 leaflets to one large balloon and 300 other small balloons to send to North Korea for an hour at 2:40 p.m.
[Analysis] The inter Korean relation in the new year
Changing tide of relations between Pyongyang and Washington leave Seoul with few options for getting back into the game » Vehicles heading to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex wait to enter North Korea on December 1, when North Korea tightened regulations on the number of people it will admit amidst the continued deterioration of inter-Korean relations. On the occasion of the new year, The Hankyoreh sat down with 32 South Korean experts on North Korea to discuss the prospects for relations between the two Koreas and between North Korea and the United States in the new year. Until now, progress in relations between North Korea and the United States has been typically been accompanied by improvements in inter-Korean relations. Still, most of the experts we talked with said that there would be progress in relations between North Korea and the United States, but that inter-Korean relations would either continue in their present state or undergo further strain. [SK NK policy]
[Analysis] Just how new is Seoul’s ‘new’ N. Korea policy?
Unification Ministry will make a ‘shift toward new South-North relations’ in 2009 -- provided that Pyongyang is the first to change The Ministry of Unification carried out a presidential briefing Wednesday. The ministry set its 2009 goals for unification policy as “stable, productive and reciprocal inter-Korean relations through a shift toward new South-North relations,” but no mention was made of a shift in the tenor of North Korea policy, such as assurances that it will carry out the terms of the June 15 and October 4 declarations, which North Korea has demanded as a precondition of restoring inter-Korean relations. As a result, the ministry predicted that for the time being in the new year, the current state of inter-Korean relations will continue as long as there are no independent changes in Pyongyang’s stance. The Unification Ministry’s briefing stated that inter-Korean relations are currently in an “adjustment period” and expressed the goal of realizing a “shift toward new South-North relations” within 2009. The ministry indicated that to realize this goal, it would suggest inter-Korean dialogue through major occasions and focus its efforts on resuming dialogue between authorities from the two Koreas. [SK NK policy]
Can Korea Play Bridge Role for 'Chimerica' ?
By Kim Jae-kyoung Staff Reporter The year 2009 will be a landmark for Korea, as well as the world, as it's expected to be a critical turning point when the balance of global power shifts to the East from the West. In recent years, U.S. hegemony has been gradually eclipsed by the rise of China, and in the aftermath of the Wall Street crisis last year, the Pax Americana political world and economy is being slowly shifted to a Pax Sinica system. For Niall Ferguson, a world-renowned history professor at Harvard University, the era of Pax Sinica is not a matter of choice, but a matter of time and destiny. He stressed that during the course of power transition, South Korea should play a broker's role between the two superpowers for survival. ``South Korea is in a strong position to act as a bridge between the U.S. and China. For historical reasons, it can do so much more easily than Japan,'' Ferguson said in an interview with The Korea Times. [Decline] [China rising] [Realignment]
Defense Exports of $1.3 Billion Planned
By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter The Ministry of National Defense pledged Wednesday more support for the nation's defense exports as part of efforts to help revive the economy. It set the goal of exporting defense goods and weapons systems worth $1.2 billion next year. In its 2009 policy briefing to President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae, the ministry said it would spearhead the establishment of a pan-governmental council to support the country's defense exports.
The ministry's key policy goals for this year include efforts to strengthen the country's military alliance with the United States and deter threats from North Korea along the Demilitarized Zone and the disputed maritime border in the West Sea. ``To counter any transnational or non-military threats (from North Korea), the ministry will actively seek to establish joint countermeasures with the international community through multinational security forums and reinforce its preparedness against terrorist and cyber attacks,'' the report said. [Arms sales] [Double standards]
Domestic Light Attack Jets Due in 2013
By Jung Sung-ki The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has signed a contract with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) to develop a light attack jet by 2012, officials said Tuesday. The deal on systems integration and research-and-development is worth about 400 billion won ($317 million), they said. [Military balance]

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