South Korea's political culture is characterized by pointing fingers at each otherBy Park Jung-won
Park Jung-won
The barrage of hostile rhetoric and missile tests coming from Kim Jong-un's regime this year shows North Korea's intention to influence the outcomes of the South Korean general elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November. These acts are obviously meant to aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and frame the election narrative as a dichotomy of peace and war, pushing the government of Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling party into a corner. As for the United States, the goal is to enhance the North's nuclear capabilities as much as possible, with the hope of resuming summit talks with Donald Trump, should he be re-elected president in November.
Amid this grave situation, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, has called for North Korea to cease its hostile acts and said that Kim should make sure that the efforts for peace made by his predecessors, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, are not undermined. He criticized Yoon by arguing that a hardline stance toward the North alone cannot achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. He asked, rhetorically, what benefit there is to throwing a bigger stone in reaction to a neighbor doing so first. In response, the ruling party fiercely criticized Lee, accusing him of holding an intolerable pro-North Korean stance.
Equating North Korea's provocations to a neighbor throwing rocks and portraying Kim Jong-il, who started the Korean War, and Kim Jong-il, who initiated the North's nuclear development program, as peacemakers is ludicrous. Even if one sees Lee's remarks in the best light, any diagnosis that concludes that the source of the current security unrest on the Korean Peninsula stems from the Yoon regime's hardline policy toward the North is incorrect.
Lee does not spell out how peace can be achieved with a North Korean regime that has clearly stated that it will not relinquish its nuclear weapons under any circumstances and has even "legalized" their use against South Korea. He simply says that Yoon should not respond too strongly to North Korea's provocations, as it does not help achieve peace. But why do Lee and other opposition politicians continue to chant the song of peace with North Korea? This is because advocating for peace suits their practical political interests, whether such peace is achievable or not.
Since 1987, South Korea has embarked on a path of democratization. However, South Korean politics has devolved into extreme confrontations between ruling and opposition parties. Politicians, regardless of their beliefs, tend to perceive the North Korea issue, even in areas directly linked to national security, as mere fodder for arguments in the pursuit of power. There is little hope of finding a bipartisan point of contact for producing a coherent policy on North Korea. Thirty years of policies by successive South Korean governments have failed to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power. The stark reality is that South Korea is now vulnerable to North Korea's nuke threat. Nonetheless, conservative and progressive political forces continue to criticize each other, blaming each other for the current situation. The absurd remarks by Lee should be understood in the context of South Korea's political culture, which is characterized by blaming others without engaging in self-criticism.
Ultimately, it is voters who bear the responsibility for this political culture. South Koreans know through media reports that North Korea is the most isolated, backward and anti-human rights country in the world, while also being a dangerous country that has said it can use nuclear missiles against South Korea. However, many have also become accustomed to the fact that the North Korea issue in South Korean politics is merely a convenient piece of propaganda used by political parties to win elections. As a result, reaction from politicians is muted even when Kim Jong-un threatens to annihilate South Korea. Instead, they seem more interested in providing unconditional support to the political camps they have chosen based on their interests to ensure their candidate becomes the next president. Voters have become all too aware of this psychology.
Aside from the constitutional provisions mandating the president to endeavor for peaceful reunification with North Korea, the North Korea issue merely serves as a political agenda for ambitious politicians to consolidate a base of support to acquire and maintain power. The fact that the North Korea issue, so crucial to national security, lacks even a minimal consensus between the ruling and opposition parties brings to mind Gregory Henderson's depiction of South Korean politics as a "vortex" centered on the struggle for centralized power.
Obviously, the current Yoon regime is also subject to these critiques. Yoon has criticized the current opposition and progressive forces for neglecting national security and for false pacifism. If so, Yoon must clearly explain how he intends to protect national security if Trump becomes the next U.S. president and moves toward a nuclear disarmament agreement with North Korea, potentially recognizing North Korea as a de facto nuclear state. It is not enough to just talk tough about responding firmly to North Korea's provocations.
Yoon would need to tell Trump that, in the worst-case scenario, South Korea would have no choice but to build its own nuclear arsenal. If he lacks the resolve and courage to do so, then he is not much different from opposition leader Lee. Yoon's use of the North Korea issue for political gain would be essentially the same as his opponent's.
Park Jung-won (park_jungwon@hotmail.com), Ph.D. in law from the London School of Economics (LSE), is a professor of international law at Dankook University.
Tweedle Yoon and Tweedle Lee
25
0
01.02.2024
South Korea's political culture is characterized by pointing fingers at each otherBy Park Jung-won Park Jung-won
The barrage of hostile rhetoric and missile tests coming from Kim Jong-un's regime this year shows North Korea's intention to influence the outcomes of the South Korean general elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November. These acts are obviously meant to aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and frame the election narrative as a dichotomy of peace and war, pushing the government of Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling party into a corner. As for the United States, the goal is to enhance the North's nuclear capabilities as much as possible, with the hope of resuming summit talks with Donald Trump, should he be re-elected president in November.
Amid this grave situation, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, has called for North Korea to cease its hostile acts and said that Kim should make sure that the efforts for peace made by his predecessors, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, are not undermined. He criticized Yoon by arguing that a hardline stance toward the North alone cannot achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. He asked, rhetorically, what benefit there is to throwing a bigger stone in reaction to a neighbor doing so first. In response, the ruling party fiercely criticized Lee, accusing him of holding an intolerable pro-North Korean stance.
Equating North........
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