“North Korea’s collapse may be imminent,” said former U.S.
Forces Korea Commander Walter Sharp at a symposium in Hawaii on May 25, urging that “due to internal instability, the regime might
collapse on a faster timeline than we previously imagined.” He added that we
will see important changes on the Korean Peninsula before the end of General
Vincent Brook’s term. Brooks, the new U.S. Forces Korea Commander, took office
last month. The implication is that the the regime could implode within the
next few years.
Former Commander Sharp recommended that we begin to plan and
train for North Korea’s collapse as soon as possible. “We need to determine a
way to provide security and stability in the case of an internal collapse, with
specific attention being paid to preparing a response to the North Korean army.
We need to establish a response ability,” he asserted.
Sharp noted that considering the instability of Kim Jong
Un’s reign, and from the perspective of a former soldier, the chances of
collapse are high. Since the implosion can occur at any moment, it is important
to begin making specific plans for sudden changes, rather than expecting an
eternal continuation of the status quo, he added.
However, it was difficult for Sharp to make specific
predictions about the road ahead. Loyalty to Kim Jong Un is weakening and
internal strife is on the rise, but strict civil and political controls remain
as strong as ever. There are no reliable indications of any sort of organized
resistance. There is the chance that Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Korean
Workers’ Party, can suffer a precipitous fall from the top, but there is always
the possibility that the regime will continue to hang on to power despite adversity
just like it has in the past. Simply waiting hopefully for a collapse might
prove to be a fruitless endeavor.
North Korea is also awaiting unification
A different outlook is emerging in North Korea. On May 16, Korean Central News Agency reported that North Korean “government, political parties, and organizations released a joint statement,” declaring a concerted effort to work towards improved
relations with South Korea by actively working with South Korean authorities,
as also mentioned during the 7th Party Congress.
“As we get closer and closer to the summit of the mountain,
the road gets steeper and the wind blows harder. Today, the outlook of the
peninsula is severe as ever. But just as the internal and external pressure
against unification is at it’s peak, the goal line of unification lies right
before our eyes,” an excerpt of the report read.
The unification being discussed here is clearly under the
communist system. North Korea is expressing their will to overcome the foreign
threats and pressure to achieve a North Korean-style unification. But the fact
that America and North Korea are talking about unification at the same time,
albeit from totally different perspectives, is interesting. Could it mean that
both are responding to the current situation by pondering ‘the summit’ of these
developments?
*Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK.
