[imText1]9/11 Terrorist Attack and Kim Jong Il’s Nuclear Weapons
Recently, history gave us a warning with two unusual events, both beyond our imagination. These events indicate a regressive flow of historical development.
The first is the 9/11 terrorist attack by Al Qaeda group. In fact, such an incident is truly unimaginable. The United States never provided a direct reason to be attacked in this fashion. We must understand that an incident of this magnitude has a deep historical root. There is a need for a serious study in terms of the historical root of this incident beyond temporal punishment. But such a study is not taking place.
The second is the fact that the Kim Jong Il regime—that has evolved from the Soviet style communism and is now about to collapse—is threatening the international society with nuclear weapons. South Korea (ROK), the land that has the most to lose from these threats from North Korea, is experiencing an upsurge of pro-North, anti-American sentiment. That is a fact. South Korea’s miraculous economic growth is founded on the strength of the US-ROK alliance. Therefore, it would be logical for South Korea to remain true to its alliance with the U.S. On the contrary, there has been a rapid increase of pro-North Korea / anti-US sentiment instead.
A similar trend is on the rise not only in South Korea but in many parts of the world. With regard to the Korean situation, some argue that South Korea’s embracement policy towards the North has effected changes in North Korea; but actually, I believe that South Korea has undergone more drastic changes. South Korea has taken a step backward in its pursuit of true democracy. We must carry out a serious study regarding the historical roots of this development and formulate a countermeasure.
Despite the grave situation, however, many intellectuals choose to view these difficulties as an inevitable process in way of democratic development. Their casual treatment of these irregular trend and events is indicative of their prevailing attitude: Ignorance is bliss.
If we were to follow their line of thought and let South Korea digress in its democratic pursuit, the overall Korean situation could develop into one of the major hurdles that mankind has faced throughout history. None of these hurdles have been easy to overcome, and we certainly don’t want to face hurdles like the World War II and the Cold War, for instance.
The important thing here is that we formulate workable plans to prevent unnecessary sacrifices when faced with difficulties. Intellectuals must not pretend that they are above these problems. They must do their due diligence and carry out studies in earnest to find solutions.
The Last Anti-Dictatorship Movement in the 21 Century
Dictatorships that were prevalent during the World War II era can be characterized as selfish nationalism or egocentric individualism masked by nationalism. Germany, Italy, and Japan believed in the superiority of their respective races and they sought to create the new world order by employing expansionist policies.
Then appeared the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union, which argued that the working class was the most progressive class to represent the society and the mankind, and sought to spread communism around the world. Egoistic class system was at the root of this totalitarian power system. How does this brand of totalitarianism compare to the today’s dictatorships?
There are similarities and differences. History is an amalgamation of continuity and discontinuity. As such, today’s dictatorship has both similarities and differences with dictatorships of the past, plus some distinct and unique characteristics.
Today, the anti-democratic dictatorships are characterized by their adherence to the principles of inviolability (of their sovereignty), whereby they protect their totalitarian system. They oppose globalization of democracy and democratization. The anti-democratic totalitarian powers of today have melded their self-serving interests with the affairs of the state.
The fight against these totalitarian powers is the last obstacle to overcome on our way to achieve democracy. We must carry on this final fight to protect and serve the democratic cause for all human kind, and the developed nations of democracy must take the leading role.
The anti-dictatorship fight of today may well be the final fight for the mankind.
Global Democratization Must be Completed
Current globalization trend is unstoppable. The assignment for history now is to find a way to proceed with the globalization in a democratic way. Globalization process begins with our daily lives and extends its sphere of influence to the national level and worldwide. Given this situation, it is necessary to see beyond national centrism, surpass the self-serving interests, and engage in a fight for global democracy.
Generally speaking, under-developed nations that subscribe to sentiments such as national egoism, class egoism, and racism are susceptible to totalitarian regimes and they tend to harbor ill feelings towards developed nations, especially the only remaining superpower, the U.S. Al Qaeda terrorist group, hailing from a similar background, was given a tacit approval and encouragement in conducting terrorism against the U.S.
Today’s strategy against dictatorships cannot be the same as those of the anti-fascist movement during the World War II, or the anti-socialist movement during the Cold War. Today’s anti-dictatorship strategy must be formulated and carried out on behalf of all humans, on behalf of achieving complete democracy throughout the world.
International Democracy Alliance must be Strengthened
To achieve this goal, leading developed nations must see themselves clear of their own selfish interests, namely, state centrism. To this end, domestic campaign alone is insufficient.
The anti-totalitarianism campaign needs to begin by strengthening the international alliance among the democratic nations. This effort will take a lot of time and energy, but they must rally together under a common flag against dictatorships and persevere to strengthen the international democracy alliance.
Especially, the U.S. must take the lead for global democracy, recognizing clearly that this movement would enhance its own prosperity. The U.S. must rise beyond its own selfish interests and give its first priority to strengthening the coalition among the democratic nations in pursuit of global democracy.
In today’s anti-dictatorship struggle, military force alone is ineffective. Rather, it is far more significant to build consensus among nations of people. For example, in the case of the North Korean nuclear issue, it is important to build wide support among the people throughout the world by addressing the human rights violations and the inhumane criminal activities by the dictatorship.
Toppling dictators, however, should not be the end of the mission. We must democratize the nations that suffer dictatorship. Following the removal of the dictatorship, work must continue until the democratization process is completed in way of economy, politics and culture.
In Iraq’s case, the democratization process must not end with the arrest of Hussein and maintenance of social order. Continued assistance is paramount until Iraq becomes a fully democratized.
Along the same line, we need to recognize that there is a new strategy in dealing with the North Korean problem. Notwithstanding the hostile conditions that exist in the Korean peninsula, the new strategy involves diplomatic means in reforming the people’s ideological views in North Korea. This new approach—democratization of North Korea—should be kept in mind as part of the solution to the North Korean problem.
North Korean democratization will Become the Global Democratization Model
The North Korean problem is at a turning point—whether we will achieve democratization through confrontational competition, or through cooperation. What happens here at this juncture will provide a significant model for solving the problems related to global democratization. Cooperation between the U.S. and China will be crucial for solving the North Korean problem as well as for the global democratization.
Furthermore, a cooperative structure consisting of the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia with South Korea as the mediator among the four nations will make for a powerful force for the global democratization.
In this sense, the democratization of North Korea will serve as an unprecedented model for the global democratization, and will provide a significant contribution to humanity.
27 of May, 2005
To All of You,
Hwang Jang Yop
