[The Editors' Verdict] Inter-Korean Dialogue Befitting National Prestige

Young-gi Cho, Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Political Science, Kookmin University · Chairman of the Advanced Unification Research Association, Hanseon Foundation

If an individual's dignity (品格) is character, then a nation's dignity is national prestige (國格). Dignity is determined by expression or behavior. Maintaining national prestige is no exception in inter-Korean dialogue and negotiations. In other words, we must not lose our dignity in the face of North Korea's rudeness (無禮), but we must also not succumb to it. The moment we yield to North Korea's rudeness, we often fall into their southern unification tactics and mishandle the situation.

Watching the process of inter-Korean dialogue and negotiations, scenes far removed from national prestige have often been repeated. Throughout the process, there was not even a hint of dignity, and due to a lack of strategy, we were played by North Korea's tactics. Especially after the 'Hanoi No Deal' in February last year, the level of North Korea's disparagement and rudeness increased, but the government's submissive attitude toward North Korea continued. North Korea's disparaging remarks about President Moon Jae-in are unacceptable as they amount to disparagement of our people. However, the government consistently remained silent and turned a blind eye to the damage to national prestige. Instead, the government and ruling forces labeled voices criticizing the submissive North Korea policy as anti-national and anti-unification forces, and paradoxically justified North Korea's rudeness by blaming South Korea for North Korea's mistakes. Such behavior led to complaints questioning which country's government or ruling forces these were.

Recently, the government's submissiveness toward North Korea flared up again over the issue of leaflets by defector groups. On the 4th, Kim Yo-jong, First Deputy Director of the Workers' Party, raised the issue of leaflets, claiming they "greatly damaged the dignity of the supreme dignity(?) Kim Jong-un." Just four hours after Kim Yo-jong's warning statement, the government showed a promptness(?) in immediately implementing her orders. Encouraged by this promptness, North Korea responded more aggressively and openly. On the 9th, a report by the Korean Central News Agency called the South Korean authorities "treacherous and cunning" and presented an unidentified bill, threatening the government with a hardline stance to "thoroughly convert inter-Korean affairs into hostile affairs." They also hinted at additional provocations by cutting off the inter-Korean hotline under the pretext of "paying the price"(?)

Startled by North Korea's high-handed attitude, the government and ruling forces have been recklessly enacting immature policies such as 'legislation to ban leaflets to North Korea,' 'prosecution of related defector groups,' and 'arrest of leaflet distributors in border areas.' While the government's difficulties in trying to appease North Korea and maintain dialogue are understandable, it is regrettable that this seems to add another example of submissiveness toward North Korea. The memory of last month, when the government defended North Korea by calling the shooting at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) guard post (GP) an "accidental shooting," is still vivid.

Accepting North Korea's warnings immediately while failing to do what we should naturally do is the obvious reason North Korea looks down on South Korea and behaves rudely. Also, our unconditional goodwill contributed to the functionalist illusion that North Korea would respond in kind. The illusion that exchanges and cooperation would realize North Korea's denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula still persists. Most North Korea experts ignored the fact that functionalism, despite its attractive logic, is not feasible in a heterogeneous system. They abandoned intellectual honesty in warning about the dangers of functionalism, and policy makers exploited this logic as a political tool, repeating a vicious cycle. The 30-year vicious cycle of functionalism has worsened North Korea's nuclear issue and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The lesson from over 30 years is to break free from the illusion of functionalism and comprehensively readjust North Korea policy. Meanwhile, North Korea's hypersensitive reaction to leaflets is because the leaflets faithfully serve as a tool for spreading freedom and democracy throughout North Korea. Therefore, rather than blocking leaflets with clumsy legal measures, the government should seek ways to utilize the positive functions of the leaflets. This would lay the foundation for normalizing North Korea policy and enable a policy befitting national prestige. For this, the government's progressive awareness and determination seem urgently needed.