Leaders of North and South Korea recently exchanged personal letters ahead of South Korean President Moon Jae In’s departure from office, but some North Korean cadres have scoffed at the South Koreans’ failure to detect how North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used expressions that put Moon in a subordinate position.
According to a high-ranking Daily NK source in North Korea on Wednesday, cadres who learned of the letter exchange through an internal newspaper for Central Committee cadres smirked when they saw that South Korea failed to pick up on how the North used the term “assesses,” or pyeongga handa, an expression used by a superior to a subordinate. Instead, the South simply thanked Kim for responding.
According to them, someone in a superior position can “assess” or “appraise” someone in a lower position, but no one can use the expression “assess” or “appraise” toward someone of equal or higher status.
In a briefing about the letter exchange on Apr. 22, South Korea’s Presidential Spokeswoman Park Kyung Mee quoted Kim as writing, “We highly value and respect President Moon’s agony, hard work and passion for the cause of the people until the end of his term. We will never forget President Moon and will unwaveringly respect him after he leaves office.”
North Korea’s KCNA wrote the same day, “Recollecting that the top leaders of the north and the south made public the historic joint declarations giving hope for the future to the entire nation, Kim Jong Un appreciated the pains and effort taken by Moon Jae In for the great cause of the nation until the last days of his term of office.”
In both the original Korean versions of the South Korean statement and North Korean KCNA report, the word pyeongga was used for “value” and “appreciate.”
South Korea’s presidential office did not reveal the text of Kim’s return letter to Moon, but it clearly used the expression “highly assessed.”
However, the KCNA report made no mention of Kim’s expressed “respect” for Moon, or how he would “unwaveringly respect him after he leaves office” that the presidential spokeswoman mentioned. The newspaper for Central Committee cadres did not mention these things, either.
Regarding Kim’s reported use of the expression, “We did produce historic declarations and agreements to serve as milestones in inter-Korean relations,” the cadres said this expression placed the South in a subordinate position as well, as it means that “the North set the milestones” while the South “simply agreed to and followed them.”
Through KCNA, North Korean authorities said “the exchange of the personal letters between the top leaders of the north and the south is an expression of their deep trust.” However, in North Korea, officials continued to slander the South over its claimed misreading of Kim’s personal letter.
The United Front Department is reportedly behind efforts to promote the slander of the South by party cadres. Cadres believe that department is behind the slander because it edited Kim’s letter for release after selecting which parts to run in the KCNA and cadre newspaper.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s decision not to reveal the inter-Korean letter exchange in the popularly read Rodong Sinmun was aimed at preventing the spread of “needless rumors.”
In fact, after North Korea revealed the content of a speech South Korean President Moon made before Pyongyangites during a visit in 2018, rumors about Moon spread among the locals, some of whom reportedly had a favorable impression of the South Korean leader.
A 40-something male resident of the Kyonghung-dong neighborhood of Pyongyang’s Potonggang District – who was mobilized at the time to welcome Moon – was reportedly dragged off to a political prison camp after the Central Committee heard he had said, “The South Korean president bowed to the people, even though he appeared older, and this demonstrated his humanity, in stark contrast to Kim Jong Un.”
“There probably didn’t seem any need to generate appraisals or rumors regarding Kim by revealing the exchange of letters,” the source said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
