[Reporter’s Notebook] A Veteran Minister Must Be Different

The actions of Minister Chung Dongyoung, who has returned as the head of the Ministry of Unification after 20 years, resemble a highlight reel from a drama series.

At a desolate Panmunjom, the male protagonist picks up the disconnected inter-Korean direct phone and, knowing it is dead, presses the bell three times. Only silence follows. At the inauguration ceremony, photos and videos of the protagonist’s past achievements play like a short film. Visiting the grave of the late former President Kim Daejung, the protagonist is overcome with emotion and breaks into tears. Determined, he goes on to make a bold proposal to the President to adjust the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, which are just ten days away...

These are all things Minister Chung has actually done since taking office. But was this just a misleading trailer? While about 20 of the originally planned 40 outdoor maneuver drills for this year’s South Korea-U.S. joint exercises have been postponed to next month, the scale of the adjustment is ambiguous if one were to attribute it to the Minister’s proposal as a ‘conciliatory gesture toward North Korea.’ The military authorities cited ‘heatwave’ as the reason for the postponement.

A senior official at the Ministry of Unification tried to emphasize that the adjustment was made “in response to the proposal,” but it is hard to avoid a sense of anticlimax. Even if the exercises had been drastically adjusted or even suspended, it is doubtful whether North Korea would have responded positively. Today’s North Korea, holding advanced nuclear missiles in one hand and the arm of a powerful ally in the other, is not the same as the North Korea that Minister Chung faced during his first term as Unification Minister in 2004?2005.

It is not just North Korea that has changed over the past 20 years. Inter-Korean relations have always been a rollercoaster. In particular, the public’s heightened expectations during the Moon Jaein administration?after the first-ever North Korea-U.S. summit since the 6·25 Armistice?were shattered by the so-called ‘Hanoi No Deal’ incident in 2019. Watching the inter-Korean liaison office collapse in an explosion, public sentiment turned cold. What North Korea destroyed was not just a building, but the trust of South Koreans who had hoped North Korea could be a dialogue partner.

The atmosphere inside and outside the Ministry of Unification is now starkly different from the past. For the younger generation, who never saw the ‘previous episodes,’ Minister Chung’s passionate actions can even be bewildering. He should not assume that the glory days of inter-Korean exchange, which he remembers, will resonate with the entire nation.

The current state of inter-Korean relations cannot be overcome with outdated policies that only evoke a sense of d?j? vu. The ‘experiment’ that relied on the unique character and impulsiveness of a U.S. president has already failed once. Without an accumulated strategy, both progressive and conservative governments are left powerless. Minister Chung must reconsider what the public expects from a ‘veteran’ Unification Minister.

Sudden and half-baked ideas may be virtues for a newcomer, but not for a seasoned professional. He must become a cool-headed and experienced strategist, delivering thoroughly calculated results. The honeymoon period granted to a veteran may be shorter than expected.