North Korea is North Korea
North Korea is one of those very few streams of learning where ‘oral tradition’ still continues. Most of the info that people are aware of about NK are based on hearsay, dreams or imagination since nothing concrete is on the table. Speculations are always high as NK regime continues to send contradictory messages and there is hardly anything reliable.
But what is surely reliable is that the rest of the world has not been able to bring this fragile regime to the ground – at least so far. Seems the NK regime is aware of the fact that the rest of the world would never be ‘logically’ united enough for any meaningful actions, as evident in BBC’s HARDtalk two days ago where Gregory Schulte, the US ambassador to the IAEA, was unable to articulate a direct answer to Stephen Sackur’s question on why India and why not Iran and other nuclear powers. Those frail answers and logics certainly send wrong messages to the regimes like NK’s.
Currently, we all are flirting with the speculations over North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s health. Rumours are that he is seriously ill/ dead/no longer in control of the regime etc. etc. as he failed to appear at not only the military parade celebrating the country’s 60th birthday but also on Chusoek celebration which are significant events.
Amidst these speculations, Hwang Jang Yup, former secretary of North Korean Workers’ Party commented (blog site http://www.chogabje.com) :
김정일의 건강에 이상이 있다고 해서 북한에 당장의 큰 변화는 없을 것이다. 김정일의 건강에 이상이 있다고 해서 당장에 긴급사태가 일어나는 것처럼 생각하는 것 자체가 북한을 잘 모르는데서 나온 주장이다. 적과 싸우는 와중에도 상대방이 아프면 예의를 갖추는 것이 기본인데 김정일이 아프다고 해서 지금처럼 떠드는 것은 정정당당하게 싸워서 이길 생각은 없고, 요행수만 바라는 경박한 행동이다 (Kim Jong Il’s health problem is not going to change anything in North Korea. Those who think that this health problem would result in a crisis in the North basically have no idea about North Korea. In case of illness, it is basic to show respect even to the enemy; just because Kim Jong Il is sick, in the absense of a fair fight, wishing for a victory simply shows immaturity).
설사 김정일이 죽는다고 해도 북한의 명맥을 장악하고 있는 중국이 자신들의 절실한 이해관계로 인해 북한의 혼란을 절대로 방치하지 않을 것이라며 탈북자들은 현재의 상황에 너무 큰 기대를 하지 말고 맡겨진 일을 열심히 하면 된다 (Even if Kim Jong Il dies, China that holds the lifeline of the North would not allow any chaos to prevail in North Korea. Defectors should not have high hopes from the current situation and must continue their work as usual).
중국은 북한을 제발 먹어달라고 제사를 지내도 먹지 않을 것이다. 북한을 민주화하기 위해서는 앞을 내다보고 중국과의 관계개선에 노력을 기울여야 한다 (China will not take over the North even if North Korea requests for it. In order to democratize the North, an inclination to improve relationship with China is needed).
Reacting to the above mentioned opinion of Hwang Jang Yup with reference to China, one netizen writes:
역사상 중국이 한반도를 먹어 버릴 기회는 수 없이 많았다. 왜 대만,몽골등 수많은 이민족과 영토를 먹어 치우면서도 한반도를 놔둔 이유를 우리는 잘 모른다. 흔히 한국인들의 현실적인 사대외교로 해서 중국이 먹을 이유가 없었다고 말하는 설이 가장 설득력이 있다. 황위원장의 말이 뜻하는 바가 뭔지를 모르지만, 그러한 맥락이 아닐까 생각된다.조선을 먹으면 바로 일본과 미국과 대치하게 되는 것이 그리 바람직하지 않다고 생각하는게 아닐까? (Historically, China has had many chances to take over Korean Peninsula. We don’t know why China left Korean Peninsula untouched whereas it swallowed many minorities and land like Taiwan and Mongolia. The best explanation for why Korea was left untouched can be sought in the pragmatic foreign policy of Korea. I don’t know what Mr. Hwang means but I think he could be wrong. Swallowing North Korea would mean coming in direct confrontation with Japan and the US, and that is surely not desirable).
Now that NK has categorically stated that it no longer wishes to be delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism and that it can go its own way and resume nuclear program, it would be interesting to see what comes next.
