korean unification studies

An interesting note to my last post on the West Sea. I noticed a South Korean press release from the Office of the President, dated 22 October, the same as the KCNA press release in the previous post. But, let me tell you, it’s not just the tone of language that is different. The two sides are totally at odds with regards to aims of reconciliation. The final paragraph of both is representative of the different views:

From the KCNA we have:

The KPA Navy will never remain an onlooker to the south Korean naval warships’ reckless military provocations as intruding into the inviolable territorial waters of the north side. The south Korean military authorities had better stop acting rashly.

From the ROK Office of the President we have:

The government’s willingness to defend the NLL is unquestionably strong. Our strategy is just to turn the NLL into a line of peace prior to the creation of a special peace zone in the West Sea border under the inter-Korean summit agreement.

This could be just a case of North Korea using well worn tactics to strengthen its position in any future negotiations….

They are basic tactics that have been listed in any number of texts. Everyone knows that North Korea:

• Seeks to negotiate in an atmosphere of urgency to place greater psychological pressure on negotiating partners. For example, prior to agreeing to negotiate, North Korea will create an incident or even threaten war, to place the negotiating partner in a sense of psychological dilemma regarding their role.
• Seeks to place blame on an opposing party prior to negotiations. Inevitably, this also includes an opening negotiating request for an apology (usually a ’sincere apology’). This places North Korea in a psychologically dominant position.
• Seeks to aggravate negotiating partners through a series of minor comments that frustrate, belittle and annoy negotiators. Examples include jokes regarding the US role in South Korea, comments on current events and/or remarks on civilian-military affairs.

But could this be more than that? Is it the fact that North Korea and South Korea have totally different views on reconciliation. For North Korea this is still a competition. For South Korea, the game is over and they’re helping a wounded player of the field. In my opinion, negotiations and reconciliation can’t succeed until both sides have the same view of the game.

The full text of the KCNA press release is on the previous post. The full text of the ROK press release is pasted below:

Roh calls for mechanism to stave off inter-Korean military clashes in West Sea

Date: October 22, 2007

President Roh Moo-hyun said Friday (Oct. 19) he hopes that an inter-Korean peace zone in the disputed sea border with North Korea will help prevent accidental clashes between the two Koreas’ naval troops.
Roh proposed to establish the buffer zone along the Northern Limit Line in the 2007 South-North Korean Summit in Pyongyang in early October.

“The importance of establishing a systemic mechanism to prevent accidental military clashes in the NLL area cannot be overemphasized. That’s why the latest inter-Korean summit agreement to create a West Sea peace zone is important,” Roh was quoted by his spokesperson as saying in a meeting with presidential advisors on inter-Korean relations.

“The inter-Korean summit agreement was made possible due to thorough preparations by the (South Korean) government,” Roh said.

Roh said last week that the NLL drawn unilaterally by the United Nations at the end of the war cannot be seen as a territorial border between the two Koreas.

However, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said this week that the South Korean government is determined to maintain the NLL.

“The government’s willingness to defend the NLL is unquestionably strong. Our strategy is just to turn the NLL into a line of peace prior to the creation of a special peace zone in the West Sea border under the inter-Korean summit agreement,” said a presidential aide.