The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    N. Korea holds politburo meeting to discuss Kim-Putin summit: KCNA

  • 3

    Scientists find green way to turn CO2 into fuel with sunlight

  • 5

    BTS member Suga begins mandatory military service

  • 7

    Kim Jong-un's rejection of Russia's food assistance irritates North Korean defectors

  • 9

    Seoul invites ambassadors to introduce new halal foods in Korea

  • 11

    Yoon says arms deal between N. Korea, Russia would be 'direct provocation' against S. Korea

  • 13

    US striving to stop NK's potential weapons support to Russia 'wherever we can': Blinken

  • 15

    Honey-dipped cookie to represent 'K-desserts' at global food expo in Germany

  • 17

    Top court upholds life sentence for woman over drowning husband for insurance money

  • 19

    From friend to foe: NK athletes of 2018 joint Korean teams return as rivals to S. Korea

  • 2

    30 people purchased 8,000 homes: data

  • 4

    BTS defies K-pop's 'seven-year curse'

  • 6

    National Assembly passes motion to arrest DPK chief

  • 8

    Gender equality minister nominee in hot seat over remarks on abortion

  • 10

    Rights experts from 17 countries demand release of North Korean escapees in China

  • 12

    Aespa's VR concert to hit theaters Oct. 25

  • 14

    S. Korea condemns Russia, seeks to mend ties with China

  • 16

    COVID-19 deaths hit record high in Korea for 2022

  • 18

    KG Mobility seeks breakthrough in Europe

  • 20

    National Assembly passes arrest motion against opposition leader

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Sat, September 23, 2023 | 00:17
Donald Kirk
News for North Koreans
Posted : 2020-07-09 17:09
Updated : 2020-07-10 06:53
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Donald Kirk

The insistence of a pair of brothers on scattering hundreds of thousands of leaflets from balloons fired over North Korea confronts the South with tough questions. Is it worth upsetting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his sister, Kim Yo-jong, knowing the negative effects the leaflets are having on North-South rapprochement? For sure, Kim is not going to agree on denuclearization, but how about just returning to talks?

Or, as the leafleteers keep saying, don't they have the right to spread real news to North Koreans who otherwise might not know about the evil deeds perpetrated by Kim in his desperate desire to ensure his sway over his kingdom? Park Sang-hak, the older of the brothers, both of whom defected to the South 20 years ago, believes in telling ordinary North Koreans what they otherwise would not have known and would have believed unimaginable. One flyer spreads the news that Kim ordered the murder of his older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, at the airport in Kuala Lumpur by two young women who thought they were carrying out a harmless prank. Hundreds of thousands of those leaflets show Jong-nam sprawling on a lounge chair, dying from a VX nerve agent.


Actually, the answer to the first question is pretty simple. Just about anyone who's followed the ups and downs of dealing with North Korea knows the Kim dynasty is not going to make significant concessions no matter what. There is no way North Korea is about to give up its nuclear program, including the missiles needed to send those warheads to distant targets, unless forced. Since nobody wants to risk Korean War II, likely to result in more deaths than the 3 million to 4 million killed in the first Korean War, North Korea is free to go right on developing nukes and missiles.

There may, however, be one good reason why Kim, or Kim and Kim, brother and sister, might back down a little. Their rule has been compromised by COVID-19.

True, North Korea still denies any of its highly fortunate citizens have caught the disease, but warnings from Kim Jong-un and his state media belie that claim.

It may be for that reason that Kim, the brother, decided on "no military action" against the South after Kim, the sister, came out with nasty remarks about the "traitors" and "mongrels" responsible for showering the North with all those leaflets. It's not clear which Kim ordered the destruction of the liaison office in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, inside their own country just above the truce village of Panmunjeom, but between them they must have agreed on blowing it up in one headline-grabbing blast.

Right now, Kim and Kim are getting what they wanted from South Korea's President Moon Jae-in. He's anxious for talks to resume, and he's appointed key figures who might be the ones to make that happen.

Park Jie-won, an old-time top politico nominated as director of the National Intelligence Service, harks back to the origins of the Sunshine Policy of the late President Kim Dae-jung. Park played a vital role in arranging the first inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in June 2000 between DJ and the late Kim Jong-il, father of Kim Jong-un, after the transfer of at least $450 million to North Korean coffers. Park has met most of the players around Kim Jong-un. He of all people should know how to make a new deal that might result in resumption of dialog.

But at what price, and what result? When Kim Dae-jung went to Pyongyang for the summit, North Korea was years from testing a nuclear warhead. Denuclearization was not yet on the table as an issue.

The gift of a few hundred million dollars might not seem too absurd a price to pay for everlasting peace, but funds sent to the North are sure to aid and abet the North's nuclear program, which exploded into the open with the North's first nuclear test in 2006. The North by now has conducted six such tests, the last four ordered by Kim Jong-un, most recently in September 2017.

Deals with the North have a way of disintegrating rapidly. High hopes engendered by summits soon sink into disillusionment. While Moon and his aides persist in courting the North, the Park brothers should go on firing their balloons. Kim and Kim may not like it, but yielding to intimidation never works. Better to shower the North Koreans with leaflets, letting them know what their leaders are up to, than to shield them from the dynasty's cruel history.


Donald Kirk (
www.donaldkirk.com) writes from Seoul and Washington.


 
miguel
Top 10 Stories
1Scientists find green way to turn CO2 into fuel with sunlightScientists find green way to turn CO2 into fuel with sunlight
2Kim Jong-un's rejection of Russia's food assistance irritates North Korean defectors Kim Jong-un's rejection of Russia's food assistance irritates North Korean defectors
3Opposition party in turmoil as leader could be arrested on TuesdayOpposition party in turmoil as leader could be arrested on Tuesday
4Saudi Arabia celebrates 93rd National DaySaudi Arabia celebrates 93rd National Day
5Korea boosts subsidies to rev up falling EV sales Korea boosts subsidies to rev up falling EV sales
6Foreign employees rewarded for contribution to Korea's shipbuilding industry Foreign employees rewarded for contribution to Korea's shipbuilding industry
7Lawmakers want to grill business tycoons over decision to rejoin FKI Lawmakers want to grill business tycoons over decision to rejoin FKI
8'Songpyeon' for low-income families 'Songpyeon' for low-income families
9Gov't reviews changing description of Fukushima wastewater Gov't reviews changing description of Fukushima wastewater
10Big insurers up for sale, but financial conglomerates appear disinterestedBig insurers up for sale, but financial conglomerates appear disinterested
Top 5 Entertainment News
1BLACKPINK's contract renewal still in limbo BLACKPINK's contract renewal still in limbo
2[INTERVIEW] Virtual K-pop group MAVE: is more than just pretty pixels INTERVIEWVirtual K-pop group MAVE: is more than just pretty pixels
3Hebrew University students travel to Korea to explore musical landscape Hebrew University students travel to Korea to explore musical landscape
4[INTERVIEW] 'Cobweb' director questions meaning of cinema INTERVIEW'Cobweb' director questions meaning of cinema
5[INTERVIEW] Seoul's increased art market momentum brings Sotheby's back to Korea INTERVIEWSeoul's increased art market momentum brings Sotheby's back to Korea
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group