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The Beijing agreement in six-party nuclear talks was not a solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis but merely a stopgap measure. The parties readily subscribed: the U.S. government wanted to boost its domestic standing; China wanted to save face as the host; and North Korea hoped to gain time and money. South Korea was keen to make the most of the "North Korean variable" in the upcoming presidential election, while seeking an excuse to shower North Korea with aid again.
It is the North Korean people who suffer in the face of this international political farce. No country cares about the North Korean people, who live in hunger, poverty, fear and without human rights -- including the progressive government in South Korea, for all that it is shouting slogans of the nation. Completely ignoring the suffering of the North Korean people, representatives from the two Koreas will soon gather to sing the end of the Cold-War system and the building of a peace regime. Can such a pseudo-peace be built on the sufferings of the North Koreans be valuable and sustainable? What would it be for?
Over the past nine years, the South Korean government's goal in its North Korea policy has been peaceful unification by means of the Sunshine Policy. The two phrases sound good, but they are falsehoods and self-deception. They are out-and-out populism. South Korea has been bent on currying favor with the North under the pretext of seeking peace. But that has in fact cemented national division and hinders unification. Through its sunshine policy, the South Korean government has only paid lip-service to change in the North. But in actuality, South Korea has poured aid into the North even when Pyongyang tested its missiles and developed nuclear arms. This has only resulted in increasing conflict in the South and helping the North Korean regime consolidate its position. Even as the North Korean people's suffering deepened, the South Korean government demanded no reforms, opening of doors, or improvement of the human rights situation.
We need a new paradigm for our North Korea policy. The goal must be improving the lives of North Koreans. We must aim at freeing them from fear and hunger and helping them lead their lives with a minimum of dignity. To achieve that, we must help the North become a normal state by conducting reforms and opening its doors. The ultimate goal should be free democratic national unification, not a pseudo-peaceful process that completely ignores the North Korean people¡¯s suffering.
This is not a new idea. Article 4 of the Constitution stipulates the grand principle, calling for "national unification based on the basic principle of free democracy." But South Korean governments have instead spent the last nine years eroding this basic constitutional principle.
How can we achieve free democratic unification? We should use all means possible to help the North give up its nuclear development program and normalize -- sticks or carrots, engagement or pressure. If the North gives up its nuclear development program and opens its doors, we should warmly welcome it and give it active support. But we should resolutely apply pressure and impose sanctions if it refuses. To do this, we must strengthen cooperation with neighboring countries. Pursuit of the goal must be unwavering. This is the only way to end the North Korean nuclear crisis, to achieve unification and to build a genuine peace.
The column was contributed by Park Se-il, a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University and director of the Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Prosperity.
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