| Well, now that you mention it ... |
Both sides have signed on to "reunification," but it means something different to both sides. The South anticipates NKor collapsing upon itself and having to be reconstructed pretty much from the ground up, with Seoul in charge of the new Korea. The North sees SKor turning commie -- whether through the actions of the fifth column or a more successful rerun of the Korean War doesn't matter -- and being ruled by the Kim dynasty, who will proceed to "manage its economy."Such remarks are aimed at "breaking down the North's ideology and system to achieve 'reunification through absorption,' and it is appalling that they came out of the mouth of Lee Myung-bak," the paper said in an article carried by the North's official Web site, Uriminzokkiri.
The weekly also blasted Lee's signature North Korea policy, called "Denuclearization, Openness, 3000," in which his government seeks to raise the country's per capital income to US$3,000 if it abandons its nuclear program, as the "basis and destination" of the "absorption" scheme.
Taking office last year, Lee adopted a tougher stance than his liberal predecessors over the North's nuclear weapons program. His conservative government also ended unconditional rice and fertilizer aid to the North that had continued for nearly a decade. Such support continued despite the North's 2006 nuclear test and launching of long range missiles.
Lee's hardline policy won support from conservatives at home, but liberals and non-governmental groups say his tough stance sent inter-Korean relations backwards after years of reconciliatory progress. "What we can obviously learn here is that South Korea's confrontational policy toward its fellow men will never change as long as Lee Myung-bak is in power," the paper said.
| Let's assume for the moment that Kimmie soon cavorts in the ninth circle of hell with Himmler. Then let's assume that his callow third son isn't the man to run the country, even as a figurehead, and let's further assume that a war of succession takes place in Pyongyang. Let's assume finally that because of all this that North Korea thus finishes its implosion and is now a global basket case, eyesore and flashpoint for a regional war. What to do? The US should immediately tell the Chinese, quietly, that if China allows the South to absorb the North, the US will take no action that harms China's interests on the peninsula. We won't allow the South to keep the North's nuclear program or weapons, we'll restrain Japan from going nuclear, and, most importantly, we won't put American troops in the North. In fact, as the South gets control of the situation, we'll be happy to draw down our troops on the peninsula. But absolutely, positively, no military bases for us north of the 38th parallel. In short: we make clear to China that it has nothing to fear from a united Korean peninsula. The Chinese don't have to underwrite aid to the Norks anymore, they won't have a militarized Korea on their border, and we won't seek to improve our military position there. None of that guarantees that the Chinese would go along, but floating such a tentative plan certainly would give the Norks a lot more to worry about in the coming months. Solving the Nork problem means getting the Chinese to curb their dog -- or maybe, just maybe, kicking their dog to the curb. |