04/02/2019
It's been a while, friends!
What better way to open up the semester than through our own Professor Moon's Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Friending Your Enemy: Dialogue with North Korea, Engaging the Other," which we hope you had a chance to attend!
Her focus on the formation of the enemy relationship between the United States and North Korea and how to rectify it serves as a basis to analyzing the recent North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit.
What happened at the summit, and why is it the prime example of what not to do in an attempt to redefine US-North Korea relations? Professor Moon's lecture not only gave us the reason for its inbound failure, but also gave us insight into how we can take a step into the right direction.
To understand the US-North Korean dynamic, you must first understand Korean history. Much of Korean history is dismissed in the subliminal labelling of the North Korean government as a "dictatorship". Rather North Korea is a "post-colonial nationalist society," which formed after years of colonization by international powers during the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, and the Korean War in 1950 to 1953.
US involvement in the Korean War had devastating effects on the North. US aerial bombing of North Korea during the Korean War destroyed 85% of its infrastructure of that time, killed one million North Koreans, and divided Korea into two separate nations. The deep hatred, but more importantly fear that North Korea has towards the United States as an Imperialist power persists to this day. North Korea is not just a country run by dictators of the Kim family, but it is a country with intense nationalist views formed during a time of great suffering.
What should also be known about North Korea is their economical and technological capabilities (and incapabilities). Until the 1960s, North Korea possessed the second highest GDP following Japan, while South Korea suffered years of corruption and poverty. It currently has an average yearly income in line with other developing nations in Asia. Futuristic looking house complexes burgeon in the capital, Pyongyang, and trade continues to expand with other nations in eastern Asia.
On the other hand, 41 to 45% of the 25 million North Koreans remain impoverished, and 18 million face food insecurity every day. Nuclear missiles, despite their projected capabilities during tests, are not only unlikely to reproduce those results, but also unlikely to be used at all because Kim regime knows better than anyone that attacking the United States, or any of its allies, is a su***de mission.
With sufficient history explained, the animosity that North Korea fosters for the US is evident. However, the United States plays a vital role in perpetuating it. By making movies that mock the Kim regime, creating belittling propaganda against it and belittling the North Koreans themselves, the United States does the opposite of what they have been attempting to do - dismantle the regime - and instead grants the Kim family with the legitimacy and legacy it seeks.
As a consequence, war is normalized in North Korean daily life. The capital is decorated with war monuments, missiles are stationed for public display, and soldiers in full gear are ubiquitous in the streets. North Korea has become a country where hyper-militarism is the most efficient way to address their deep animosity and fear towards the United States. Coupled with the US administration's efforts to alienate North Korea by introducing travel bans and normalizing ridicule of its people, it is little surprising that the Hanoi Summit should prematurely end with President Trump storming out.
What are we striving for in the long run? For the day that North Korea would voluntarily decide to be absorbed into the South? For North Korea to abandon its entire military? For whatever cause the Hanoi Summit attempted to support, it was unsuccessful. But it also wasn't a complete failure. After all, it taught us that North Korea will not yield to Uncle Sam's big stick.
So let's go back to the above question.
What are we striving for in the long run?
What we should do is mend the animosity that North Korea and the United States currently have towards each other. Mending this torn relationship is the only step that will allow compromises, even partial unification, to have a chance to happen down the road. But holding summits will not create these opportunities. Instead, continue the humanitarian aid and lift the travel ban. Promote arts and culture of the United States in North Korea (an example is the New York Philharmonic concert in North Korea in 2008). Foster these "people-to-people" connections rather than developing policy after policy that will fail time and time again.
Take a look at the second picture. It shows the capital outskirts, with its rolling greenery and traditional Korean houses scattered on it. Although it is not the type of scenery that the North Korean regime would think to advertise to the public, perhaps they should. You wouldn't imagine North Korea to be a beautiful place, but the picture shows how rich the natural landscape of the country is, and it shows that North Korea is more than just missiles and Kim Jong Un. We must attempt to understand that underneath the thin layer of North Korean politics is the rich history of the Korean people and the millions of North Korean people that it affects.
Thank you to Professor Moon for her enlightening talk!
- Your ANKHR Team -
