How to go against the tide

Ahn Ho-Young
The author is a chair professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University and former ambassador to the United States.

The aftershock of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s bombshell remarks at the Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party and the Supreme People’s Assembly are resounding. His denial of the homogeneity of the Korean people and his condemnation of peaceful reunification based on national unity squarely contradict the “three principles of national reunification” his late grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and late father, Kim Jong-il, emphasized. This made South Korea wonder why Kim Jong-un has chosen to deny the legacy of his predecessors.

The answer may be surprisingly simple: He has finally recognized that national unity was not a core interest but merely a means to hold attention through three generations of successive leaders. The core interests of the North Korean regime are maintaining the unique ruling system of the Kim family — not their party — and cultivating military power, controlling society to protect the system from internal and external threats and maintaining economic supremacy.

North Korea put an abnormally strong emphasis on inter-Korean dialogue and national unity on two occasions: in the early 1970s, when the United States and the Soviet Union pursued détente, and the early 1990s, when the North faced tough challenges to its security and economy after most countries of the Eastern bloc opened.

North Korea has remained a closed society focused on nuclear and missile development over the past 30 years, and its economy has regressed to the pre-1990 levels. North Korea would have perceived the deepening tensions between the United States and China, Ukraine’s war against Russia and the Israel-Hamas war as positive signs of change to the global system.

North Korea has been overtly developing nuclear and missile programs under the protection of China and Russia. Now, in return for supplying Russia with artillery shells and missiles in its war against Ukraine, North Korea has been receiving economic aid and weapons of mass destruction from Russia.

After managing to take steps to reinforce its military and economic power, North Korea has turned to social control. The regime has been extremely wary of young people’s admiration for the South’s advancement. But after such efforts failed repeatedly, the Kim regime strengthened punishments for the young generation by enacting a draconian law aimed at fighting anti-Communist ideology and culture in the country.

Against this backdrop, the more the North stresses homogeneity with the South, the more North Korean youths question why they have to live in such an extremely disparate state. Therefore, Kim had to turn away from the legacy of his father and grandfather.

What are the diplomatic and security implications of his decision to reverse course? First of all, Seoul must maintain its basic stance on the homogeneity and unification of the Korean people and unification. Consistency is very important in the international community. South Korea has taken steps to recognize the existence of North Korea, as seen in the June 23 Declaration in 1973 and the two Koreas’ simultaneous entrance to the United Nations in 1991. But South Korea made it clear that those actions will remain “transitional and provisional measures” until unification.

On this basis, South Korea has signed free trade agreements with Asean and other countries and demanded special tariff provisions for products made in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North. It also offered diplomatic protection to North Korean defectors. Maintaining consistency is necessary in order to broaden the South’s range of diplomatic and security options in the event of a contingency in the North.

Second, North Korea has made clear its ambition for Communist reunification with nuclear weapons. To make the country stop developing nuclear arms, we must focus our efforts on pressuring Pyongyang over its core interests. South Korea and its allies have been putting pressure on North Korea across the diplomatic, intelligence, military and economic spectrum. These efforts must intensify to prevent Pyongyang from advancing its nuclear programs.

Third, we must remain vigilant about the threats posed by North Korea within our society. The North has so far conducted six nuclear tests, four of them since Kim took power. Kim conducted missile tests on 90 occasions in 2022 alone.

South Korea’s strengthened security cooperation with the United States, Japan and other allies is an effective response to the North’s provocations. And yet, Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s sister and deputy head of the Workers’ Party, has claimed that a war is looming because of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. Considering the current situation, it is hard to understand why some South Korean scholars and politicians are acting as mouthpieces of North Korea.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.