[imText1]There is a saying that ‘The conjugal fights never last long’. Even after leaving the house after a big fight, married couples will return home in the evening with smiles as if nothing happened. How smooth could married life be if they were to discuss who was right or wrong in every situation? In the long run, giving a little and taking a little is the best way to maintain harmony.
As ‘North-South reconciliation’ becomes a trend, some people expect the relationship between the North and South to resolve itself they way that married couples tend to. But is that possible?
A point will be reached in the conflict when generosity and reconciliation will be important ingredients in the process of unification. But that time is not now.
‘Generosity and Reconciliation’ in North-South Relationship Will Be Possible after The Removal of the Kim Jong Il Regime
The biggest hindrance to unification is the disparity between the North and South. Besides economic disparity, disparities in politics, society, culture and human rights amounts to the formation of opposing societies. In contemplating the causes of such disparities, South Korea certainly can’t be blamed for ‘developing too much’. The problem is more that North Korea has been left behind. Increased separation from the backwardness prevalent in the North would lessen the disparities between the two nations`.
The cause is clear. Without the Kim Jong Il regime removed, North Korea cannot be expected to develop. Kim Jong Il is adding to the severity of the situation by doing whatever he can to prevent outside information from spreading inside North Korea, in order to prevent the North Korean people from reaching awareness of their oppressed state.
When the Kim Jong Il regime is removed, capable North Koreans will achieve high levels of development and unification will naturally follow. It is at that point that we will be able to begin discussions regarding the establishement of a federation or union, where the principles of generosity and reconciliation will be a necessity.
Those who actively took part in crimes against humanity, cooperating with the regime, will have to be punished as is deemed fit, however, most people who obeyed without proper knowledge need to be forgiven. We, lucky to be born in South Korea, do not have any reason or right to punish or point fingers at them.
However, there are people who claim that this generosity and reconciliation, which will be needed sometime in the future, should be offered to Kim Jong Il right now. It is same as claiming that we should pick the fruit before we plant the tree, and is what the Kim Jong Il regime is waiting for us to do.
Shouldn’t Be Entangled with Kim Jong Il’s Idle Strategy
At the press conference of North Korean abductee, Kim Young Nam, the following words were heard:
“Please do not use the conflict of my family and I for impure or political motives”
“There were numerous incidents between the North and South in the past, but everything was forgotten at 6.15”
“Discussing the details of the past is not beneficial to anybody”
People were abducted. An unidentified number of abductees have passed away. Even the authenticity of the remains of one abductee has not been verified. How can this only be an issue regarding “my family and I”?. Kim Young Nam’s statement must have been approved by Kim Jong Il, reflecting solely the wishes of Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Il is using the 6.15 Inter-Korean Joint Declaration as his pawn, not hesitating to hold it over the heads of South Korean government officials. Yet we have not given the former president of South Korea the right to forgive the mutual enemy of the people of North and South Korea. Kim Jong Il will never be able to redeem himself for all of his sins, and neither will those who abetted his actions.
This is the perspective from which this conflict should be viewed.
We shouldn’t be deceived by Kim Jong Il’s manipulative strategy. The issue of North and South Korea cannot be pushed aside until relations between the two nations have improved. The historical issues are too complex for us to waste any time in resolving them. Although it will certainly be an extremely difficult process, that is the right way to approach it.
The abductee issue is similar. The South Korean government needs to change its attitude of being happy with what North Korea offers, and solliciting nothing more. We were informed of the whereabouts of Kim Young Nam only because of the persistent investigation by Japan. This stagnated North-South cooperation must stop.
“No Repatriation, No Resolution”. This is our principle.
