in a round table discussion of the Wikileaks papers, chaired by Amy G
on this morning's broadcast. If there's any way you can turn on a radio
at work, in the car, at home or wherever, do so. They cover the leaks
as well as the media coverage here, the governmental response, et al.
It's one of the most remarkable broadcasts I've ever heard. I'll send
out the prodigeous rush transcript, today or tomorrow.
Meanwhile, what's below is on point.
Ed
http://www.progressive.org/wx112710.html
Keeping Perspective on North Korea
By Matthew Rothschild,
The Progressive: November 27, 2010
When the current Korean crisis emerged, I immediately contacted the wisest
person I know on the subject. His name is Gene Matthews, and he spent
decades in South Korea as a missionary who was active in the pro-democracy
movement there.
He's a contributor to a great new book called "More Than Witnesses: How a
Small Group of Missionaries Aided Korea's Democratic Revolution."
Here's what he has to say about the current standoff.
"North Korea has always felt threatened by joint military exercises of the
U.S. and South Korea, and has always protested against them," he says. "This
time, North Korea stated that the exercises were taking place in North
Korean territory and that if shots were fired during the exercise they would
retaliate. Shots were fired (not at the North, it should be pointed out but
out toward the ocean) and the North retaliated."
What's saddest about this standoff, he says, is that it shows how far
relations have slid in the last fifteen years.
"Let's go back to 1994 when it was discovered that North Korea might be
developing nuclear weapon capability. The right wing in America had a field
day. Republicans in Congress began calling for massive bombing raids to wipe
out the North Korean nuclear facilities.
"Enter Jimmy Carter. Please check out Jimmy's article in the Washington
Post. A strong case could be made for saying that Carter's visit to the
north prevented war from breaking out. As a result of his visit The United
States and North Korea finally began talking to each other and reached some
remarkable agreements. The North agreed to destroy its small nuclear
generator in return for enough oil supplied the United States and Japan to
replace the generating capacity. Plans were even under way to open a U.S.
Embassy in North Korea. I remember receiving a phone call from a friend in
the U.S. Embassy in Seoul asking if I could recommend somebody sufficiently
fluent in Korean to work in the Pyongyang Embassy as an interpreter.
President Clinton even began to speak of a possible visit to the north.
"The situation continued to improve dramatically with the inauguration of
Kim Dae Jung as president of South Korea in 1998. He developed his famous
"Sunshine" policy with the north. A brief, useful description of the
Sunshine Policy can be found at fact-index.com."
George W. Bush destroyed all this progress, Matthews says.
"Without being totally naive about the situation I cannot help but feel that
North and South Korea could be thrashing out the final clauses of some kind
of positive détente had George W. Bush not been appointed U.S. president by
the Supreme Court. You will recall that shortly after his own inauguration
Bush declared North Korea part of the Axis of Evil, the terrible triumvirate
of nations including Iraq and Iran which Bush declared were intent on
destroying out freedom. When Bush subsequently attacked Iraq for no reasons
that made any sense, North Korea would have been foolish not to assume that
they were also on the list of nations to be targeted.
"In a later public statement Bush labeled North Korean President Kim Jong Il
a "moral pigmy." Very few Americans can understand how insulting and
devastating such talk is to a Korean leader. Americans tend to judge the
rest of the world by their own cultural thought patterns. For a Korean
leader to ignore such slurs would be a sign of grave weakness. I feel this
goes a long way toward explaining some of the recent hostility displayed by
the north.
"Bush was not through, however. Kim Dae Jung in two short years had already
begun implementation of his Sunshine Policy. In 2000 he had made a
historical visit to North Korea where he was warmly received. He would later
receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at bringing peace to the
Korean peninsula. Following Bush's inauguration, Kim flew to Washington to
try to persuade the new American president to continue support of his
efforts to engage the north. Instead, Bush used the occasion to lecture Kim
about how foolish he was to trust the north. Again, very few Americans
realized how harmful this was. Here was the cocky, shallow thinking,
fraternity boy lecturing an elderly man whose entire life had been dedicated
to achieving democracy in his own land, who was carrying on delicate
negotiations with one of the most unstable regimes in the world, fully
cognizant of all the pitfalls inherent in such negotiations, willing to risk
his entire political future in spite of those pitfalls. The scene defies
description.
"Kim returned to Korea realizing that not only could he not count on support
from Bush but that he now had to expand political energy to overcome Bush's
insulting behavior. Both Kim and his predecessor, Roh Moo-Hyun, moved ahead
with the Sunshine Policy not only lacking support from Bush but now faced
with Bush's seeming determination to counter any Korean policies developed
under President Clinton.
"When I last visited Korea in 2003 I was amazed to find a railroad
connection already completed between north and south. A South Korean
Industrial complex had been built in Kaesong where North Korean workers were
producing goods for sale in South Korea. Family visits were common and South
Korean tourists were making regular visits to the beautiful Diamond
Mountains of North Korea."
Things took a further turn for the worse with the election due to political
changes in the South, Matthews says.
"It all began to grind to a halt with the election of Lee Myung Bak as South
Korean president in 2007. This highly successful business man and former
mayor of Seoul saw himself as a pragmatic, no-nonsense leader who seemed
determined to rule with a firm hand, almost reminiscent of the past military
dictators. He too, flew off to Washington to sit at the feet of George Bush
and came back singing Bush's praises. Almost overnight the progress made
under the two previous presidents was wiped out. The railroads and highways
were virtually closed down, tours and family visits ceased and production at
the industrial complex in Kaesong declined dramatically. This was all
combined with a vigorous renewal of the "defensive" exercises some of which
were now taking place in the disputed boundary waters between North and
South."
Nor does Matthews spare President Obama.
"One final ingredient for the stew pot is President Obama's abysmal approach
to the Korean situation. Whereas in his campaign he promised to deal with
situations like Korea through negotiation, as president he has almost
wholeheartedly embraced Bush's policies and has pledged full support to
South Korean president Lee Myung Bak's hard-line stance.
Matthews has no illusions about North Korea, but he urges us to move beyond
simplistic portrayals.
"The point of this overly long backgrounder is not to paint North Korea as
blameless. By almost any measure the North is a basket case. Its leadership
is terribly paranoid, and its internal human rights record is abominable.
But Americans seem unable to see beyond the hasty conclusions and
Hollywood-type approach to any incident such as the shelling of the island
and sinking of the ship. America good. South Korea good. North Korea bad.
The end."
It's just not that simple, he says.
"American still has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea 57 years after
the cessation of hostilities. North Korea perceives their presence, rightly
or wrongly, as a threat. This perception is only reinforced when American
and South Korean forces carry out aggressive military exercises within
gunshot of North Korea."
Above all, says Matthews, we need to return to the path that was showing so
much progress.
"The ways of Jimmy Carter, Kim Tae Jun and No Moo Hyun were working. The
current ways are not."
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