[남정호의 시시각각] Own goal under the anti-North Korea warfare ban-JoongAng Ilbo

Jung-ho Nam columnist, JoongAng Ilbo

Former USFK Commander Vincent Brooks. As the first African American senior West Point graduate, he is an intellectual and knowing jihanpa who calls the national anthem in Korean. On December 29, last year, he gave a compelling opinion at a seminar at Choi Jong-Hyun Academy. He said, “We must solve the North Korean nuclear issue through sanctions and policies to engage with North Korea,” he said. The reason is that “Kim Jong-un doesn’t trust the people around him.”

For many experts on the Korean peninsula who have suffered from US President Donald Trump’s North Korea policy, the top-down method sounds very negative. It was a nightmare for them to deal with North Korea’s denuclearization as a talk between Kim Jong-un and Trump. This is because he was afraid of where Trump would bounce, both chauvinist and improvised. As a reflection on this, the next Biden administration is likely to use a bottom-up method focused on working-level staff. It sounds refreshing when former Commander Brooks, who is familiar with the inter-Korean issues, proposes a top-down approach, namely, a discussion between Kim Jong-un and top US officials.

The image is crumpled by Trump, so there is no guilt in making top-down decisions. If a villain uses a gun, it is a weapon, but if it is in the hands of the police, it is a tool of peace. President-elect John Biden, who is a rational multilateralist, or Tony Blincoln’s secretary of state’s nominee comes up against Kim Jong-un. It couldn’t be better if they came up with a solution that would please the whole country. However, for such a solution to be applied, an important premise must be satisfied. It is a smooth cooperation between the US and Korea based on trust.

Despite this situation, the current regime has scored a ridiculous suicide goal called the Anti-North Korea Warfare Prohibition Act, rather than North Korea’s notice. Despite opposition to arrogance, it seems clear that the law was pushed for. It means that it will soften the feelings of North Korea to create a mood of inter-Korean dialogue and make it the target of the current regime.

However, this dream met an unexpected ambush. It is an unusually harsh backlash from the international community centered on the United States. Everyone has the right to know the truth and to tell it. Nevertheless, it is natural that international public opinion is infested with imprisonment for up to three years for spraying the North Korean warfare. The Moon Jae-in administration, centered on the former democratic forces, became a dictatorship that suppressed human rights in the international community.

It’s not just about human rights. The United States has reinforced this strategy day by day, seeing that the best way to change North Korea is the inflow of external information. Thanks to this, funding for private programs toward North Korea by the National Democratic Promotion Foundation (NED), supported by the U.S. government, increased 2.5 times from $2.66 million in 2016 to $48.82 million last year. There is no way the United States will remain silent, saying that it will punish the spraying of warfare against North Korea.

The point to note here is that the epicenter of opposition in the United States is the Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee of Congress. The committee, which is made up of 50 opposition lawmakers, has a great influence on US foreign policy as well. This is why the protection of human rights abroad is one of the core goals of US foreign policy. Under these circumstances, Congressman Chris Smith, co-chair of the committee, pledges to hold a hearing on the anti-North Korea warfare ban by next month. At the same time, he hurriedly said, “I will ask the State Department to critically re-evaluate Korea’s contribution to democratic values.”

The hearing is, unfortunately, scheduled a few weeks before the’Summit for Democracy’ that the Biden administration is envisioning. President Moon Jae-in should use this summit as an opportunity to coordinate ROK-US policy toward North Korea. However, with the meeting for democracy ahead, what will be achieved when South Korea is branded as a undemocratic country that ignores North Korean human rights?

The authorities now obsessed with inter-Korean dialogue and pushed the anti-North Korea warfare ban to stop the stupidity that ruined the whole relationship with North Korea. This is the epitome of a small exploration room, where you are convicted of yourself.

Jung-ho Nam columnist, JoongAng Ilbo