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North Korea's provocations of the South have begun to cross over into the private sector. Previous attacks centered on the government and military, but now airlines and manufacturing companies at the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex are suffering. Official inter-Korean communication is all but totally severed. If the security of South Korean civilians is endangered in the North, there appears to be no way to settle this quickly.
The portent was a statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland last Thursday. "We cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger aircraft flying through the North's airspace," it said. On Monday, a spokesman for the General Staff of the [North] Korean People's Army announced the North-South military communication channel will be cut off for the duration of joint South Korean-U.S. exercises from March 9 to 20. As a consequence, some 240 South Koreans failed to return to South from Kaesong on Monday as planned. South Koreans are effectively prisoners in the North.
Earlier provocations this year over various inter-Korean agreements and the de-facto sea border did not cross the political and military boundary, with the rule having on the whole been to let exchanges that bring hard cash for the North continue quietly.
Seoul has no means of stopping North Korea or preventing harm done to South Korean citizens in the North. To begin with, the official dialogue channels have been cut off completely since the current administration took office early last year, and no unofficial channels such as between intelligence agencies seem to be working either.
Thus if a South Korean citizen came to harm in the North, the South would have no means of finding out or doing anything about it unless the North Korean authorities notify it. Though KT-operated phone lines remain open in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, there is no means of communication with other parts of the North. The hollow promise a spokesman for the Unification Ministry made on Monday to give "top priority to considerations about public security" reflects that reality.
But the government cannot consider public security alone and immediately suspend private exchanges. It has to consider possible damage to South Korean firms operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and medium and long-term inter-Korean relations. "That North Korea is spreading tension to the private sector could destroy the great cause of private exchanges and economic cooperation between the North and South," says Prof. Kim Yong-hyun of Dongguk University. "The government should persuade North Korea based on such a logic in cooperation with China and other countries."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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