Opinion

Inter-Korean talks

July 24, 2017

ALL those who want to see peace and stability prevail in the divided Korean Peninsula, despite the latest war of words between the US and North Korea, should hope that the North would reconsider its decision and accept South Korea’s offer to hold military talks. The talks aimed at easing animosities along their tense border were to take place last Friday at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The last round of military talks between the two was held in December 2015.

The North is also yet to respond to an offer made by the South’s Red Cross to meet on Aug. 1 to discuss potential reunions for divided families. The division of Korea in 1945 and the subsequent Korean War (1950-53) had left many families stranded on opposite sides of the North-South border. Many were parted forever; some were able to see their relatives again very briefly at a few specially organized family reunions. The Red Cross-proposed family reunions will be the first in two years.

Despite the lack of any response from the North, South Korea on Friday repeated its call for talks with the North, though the latter’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile early this month has exacerbated tensions.

It is likely that the North is weighing its response to the South’s proposal. Maybe Pyongyang wants to extract some concessions from the South for agreeing to hold talks. For example, the North seeks the suspension of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts at the border the two Koreas began after the North’s fourth nuclear test in January 2016. It would like the South to send back 12 women and their male manager who worked at a North Korean-run restaurant before defecting to the South last year. More important, the North wants the South to end its military exercises with the US.

Another ground for optimism is that the offer to hold military and family reunion talks are the first concrete steps South Korea has taken after it elected Moon Jae-In as its president in May this year.

Unlike his predecessor Park Gun Hye, Moon has stressed the need to reopen dialogue with his Communist neighbor while also keeping sanctions in place. Park had refused to engage in substantive dialogue with Pyongyang unless the isolated regime made a tangible commitment to denuclearization. But Moon has made it clear that he would try to resurrect the “Sunshine Policy” of his liberal predecessors in which South Korea would dialogue and engage with North Korea, believing that warm gestures rather than harsh standoffs would induce it to mend its ways.

Though the US, South Korea’s ally, feels conditions are “far away” from those needed for a resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang, Moon thinks the current standoff between the US and the North is not in the interest of anybody. Nobody believes that despite all bombasts, US President Donald Trump would attack North Korea and invite reprisals against some 28,500 US troops stationed on the other side of the border. But some miscalculations may lead to hostilities breaking out and South Korea will be the worst sufferer. No wonder, South Koreans are fond of quoting the proverb, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets hurt.”

What is more, South Koreans are in broad agreement with the “Sunshine Policy.” In a survey conducted in February, 80 percent of the South Korean public said it preferred a dialogue-based North Korea policy, with 76 percent approving the idea of an inter-Korean summit meeting.

The proposed meetings, if they take place, would be a rare opportunity to ease tension that has built up for 10 years. The latest missile test and the war threats emanating from the Trump White House has only made matters worse. It would be in the interest of everybody including the US if Moon succeeds in letting off some steam out of the current crisis.


July 24, 2017
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