UN Resolution on Human Rights in the DPRK: South Korea Participates

Having become a co-author of the UN resolution on human rights in North Korea, the Republic of Korea has taken another step that has significantly reduced the chances of restoring inter-Korean dialogue.

Discord in Seoul’s approaches

It is worth recalling here that although the most significant change in Seoul’s foreign policy under Lee Jae Myung was a more liberal policy towards North Korea, at least supposedly, there is a substantial discord within this political line, with the Ministry of Unification pulling in one direction and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Council pulling in the other.

The Ministry of Unification, led by Chung Dong-young, for whom it is the second time holding the post (it was he who organised the 2007 summit between Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il), on the one hand puts forward quite sensible ideas, such as recognising North Korea as a hostile but separate state (similar to what the DPRK has already done with regard to the South). But on the other hand, most of the ministry’s initiatives look as if it is still 2007 and the situation has not changed at all.

The ministry is trying to ‘crack’ Pyongyang’s unwillingness to talk to Seoul with the help of third parties. Seeking mediation between the North and the South, Seoul has turned not only to Russia or China, but recently also to the European Union. On 1 April in Seoul, during a meeting with a delegation of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs led by its chair David McAllister, Chung Dong-young asked the European Union to consider the possibility of joining a political dialogue aimed at easing inter-Korean tensions in a ‘2 1’ format – the two Koreas and the European Union. ‘I would be grateful if the European Union would consider facilitating a political dialogue between South and North Korea,’ adding that the EU’s experience in resolving centuries-old enmity and achieving regional integration makes it an ‘optimal mediator’.

To what extent states such as Poland or other countries unfriendly to Russia and the DPRK could play the role of mediators is not merely a debatable issue; it begs the question of which alternative planet Minister Chung lives on.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs adheres to a more traditional stance. Although it is not referring to the North as an enemy, trying to refrain from harsh anti-North Korean rhetoric, it is still present. Anti-North Korean exercises are conducted not only under the ‘umbrella’ of the large joint US-South Korean ‘Freedom Shield’........

© New Eastern Outlook