Following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test
and long-range rocket launch, there have been growing calls from the South to
boost the country’s national defense system. Although there had been debates on
whether to introduce the U.S. missile defense system THAAD over concerns of
upsetting China, deployment of the system is gaining more support from the
general public along with the sentiment that Seoul cannot idly sit by in the
face of threats from Pyongyang.
There have also been calls to strip the
country clean of internal conflict erupting over the issue of boosting national
security. The argument is people should focus on working with neighboring
countries on military ties and strategic relationships instead of voicing
concerns about an ‘arms race in Northeast Asia’ or being ‘incorporated into the
global strategic interests of the U.S.’
In an effort to unpack these complex issues, Daily NK sat down with Korea
National Diplomatic Academy’s [KNDA] Chancellor Yun Duk Min, who said, “For another country
to say this or that about South Korea planning out its own national defense
strategy as a sovereign state is akin to intervening in internal affairs.”
Yun explained, “When you’re deciding what
weapons systems to introduce to protect your own people, it must be based
solely on what South Korea needs for its security.” This comes after China’s
ambassador to South Korea ruffled feathers recently by suggesting Seoul’s
decision to deploy a U.S. THAAD system would destroy its ties with Beijing.
“China has opposed THAAD deployment saying
the x-band radar associated with the system would be able to pick up covert
areas in the country, but you have to ask whether it truly is about the
technology involved,” Yun noted. The chancellor explained he found this claim
questionable since other military equipment from the South already have radars
that do not fall short of x-band radars, yet Beijing has voiced no opposition.
“It looks like China wants to step up its
influence (in Northeast Asia) while employing an A2/AD (anti-access, area
denial) strategy to block out the U.S.,” Yun surmised.
The chancellor recalled during the
administrations of Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun, there had also been discourse
on the deployment of missile defense with claims that it would lock the South
into a U.S. strategic plan, trigger an arms race in the region, and also upset
Pyongyang. This deterred Seoul from acquiring Patriot Missiles and Aegis
carriers at the time were also introduced only after having their
anti-ballistic missile systems dismantled.
“Even now, we don’t have a definitive tool
to counter missiles from the North,” Yun pointed out.
As to whether Seoul would be in a tight
spot regardless of which way it goes with the THAAD decision due to the invisible
power struggle between the U.S. and China, Yun said the world is no longer
caught in a “zero-sum game,” and that this is especially the case when it comes
to U.S.-China relations. In terms of the economy and trade, the U.S. and China
have a surprisingly high level of interdependence. In the midst of that, the
South has an alliance with Washington and a strategic cooperative partnership
with Beijing, so it should maintain its balance in diplomacy as it has thus far.
In regard to President Park Geun Hye’s
recent speech on North Korea policy, signaling Seoul is now looking to regime
change, Yun said, “All of the countries that had held onto dictatorships going
against the times have gone through a regime change, and now all that’s left is
North Korea. He added, “The North can be no exception to this.”
Yun asserted the North went forward with
its fourth nuclear test having already been through international sanctions
from its first three rounds and realizing they were “manageable.” Now is the
time, he stated, “for the North to change the way it thinks,” and also for
“strong and effective sanctions that will threaten the stability of Pyongyang’s
leadership from the international community.”
