[imText1]Since North Korea is sure to persist with its provocative behavior, South Korean government policy should consider the necessity of regime change, a debate between a number of experts associated with the Zeitgeist has concluded.
One participant, An Byung Jik, the chair of the Zeitgeist think tank said, “If North Korean military provocations and armed attacks are an inevitability even though we have a policy of engagement, there is the need for a drastic change of policy which can stop them,” adding, “The basis of North Korea policy must change from one of engagement to one of regime change in North Korea.”
North Korea’s provocations will continue, An said he believes, and they are not directly linked to South Korea’s policy choices, instead being the fundamental result of North Korea being a “military state”.
“Given that North Korea’s nature as a military state will continue, and they will absolutely not respond to South Korea’s demands, military provocations and armed attacks will continue,” he explained.
The president of Open Radio for North Korea, Ha Tae Kyung agreed, explaining that “The ‘military state’ characteristics of North Korea are rooted in a state policy of ‘reunification of the Korean Peninsula by force’.”
“As and when events run against their political aims, rather than direct armed attacks, provocations more often come in the shape of nuclear or missile tests,” he added, saying that, to change this cycle, “There is very much the need to foster alternative factions in North Korea and add weight to the information and propaganda war.”
“North Korea will remain endlessly obsessed with using armed provocations to split South Korean public opinion,” Kim Yong Seok of Peace Reunification National Forum added, pointing out that North Korea’s provocations stem from two intentions; to cast off its own sense of political crisis and incite conflict in the South.
“It is hard to envision the government publicly backing regime change,” Kim conceded, but added forcefully, “There is very much the need to change the North Korean system and reunify.”
“There is the need for a North Korea policy based on strict reciprocity, and, considering the effect of the Kaesong Industrial Complex on North Korean society, if the scale of the Kaesong Industrial Complex were gradually reduced at times when North Korea commits provocations, it could act as a punishment,” he went on.
Yoon Deok Min, a professor with the Institute of Foreign Affairs & National Security explained that the Sunshine Policy was a policy for the purpose of arousing reform and opening in North Korea naturally after dissolving the Cold War structure of external threats, but added, “it was fundamentally flawed in its overlooking of internal causes.”
Equally, Yoon said, the cause of North Korea’s current armed provocations is domestic politics connected to the succession.
“The currency redenomination, the Cheonan incident, the Yeonpyeong Island attack etc were all tools mobilized for the purpose of allowing Kim Jong Eun, a man of just 27 years old, to take control of the military,” Yoon concluded, agreeing that, therefore, “It is probable that provocations will continue to occur in order to undermine domestic complaint.”
