Tit for tat is the best strategy against the North

Hong Yong-pyo
The author, a former Minister of Unification, is a professor of political science at Hanyang University.

“If there is only one dignity in North Korea, there are 50 million dignities in South Korea,” the South Korean government announced in October 2013. After the North threatened to punish those who speak ill of its supreme dignity, Kim Jong-un, the Park Geun-hye administration warned Pyongyang not to threaten South Korean people who are all dignities. At the time, North Korea demanded that the Park administration stop South Korean media from criticizing Kim Jong-un and prevent South Korean citizens from dispatching propaganda leaflets to the North.

Every time, the government responded by conveying to Pyongyang that the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution could not be arbitrarily restricted.

Recently, the North sent balloons several times filled with excrement and waste as a response to the leaflets. They claimed that the balloons reflected “freedom of speech” in the North. They are ridiculing the South’s position that sending leaflets to the North is freedom of expression.

However, this only showed how ignorant the North is about individual freedom. North Korean officials, including Kim’s sister Kim Yo-Jong, led the sending — and stopping — of the filthy balloons. In other words, it had nothing to do with the free will of the North Korean people. North Koreans would feel bad if they knew that waste was sent under their names.

But the South Korean government did not intentionally allow the dispatch of leaflets. The basic rights of the people cannot be restricted without legal basis. Moreover, the Constitutional Court ruled in September 2023 that the clause banning the distribution of leaflets to North Korea is unconstitutional, because it restricts the freedom of speech too much.

When it is obviously the North’s fault, politicians deftly mix right and wrong and say both sides are at fault. They contend the two Koreas must stop the “game of chicken” and talk. But blaming both sides only helps encourage the North to blame the South. The tension is escalating not because of the leaflets, but because of the North’s endless provocation and overreaction. Stopping the leaflets wouldn’t improve inter-Korean relations.

In June 2020, Kim Yo-jong pressured the Moon Jae-in administration to enact a law to block leaflets from being flown into the North and even threatened harsh consequences on the South. When a related law was being considered, North Korea raised the level of its offensive and eventually blew up the Kaesong Inter-Korean Liaison Office in 2020.

Nevertheless, the Moon administration and the Democratic Party revised the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act to punish spreading leaflets to North Korea. Despite such a low-key stance, Pyongyang became more arrogant. It was a dizzying moment that shook the identity of South Korea based on liberal democracy. Fortunately, the law was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court last year.

South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts to the North in response to Pyongyang’s provocation of dispatching waste-filled balloons. Using loudspeakers is a useful card as South Korea cannot fight back by sending similar waste or using military force. But the government must come up with stern principles and standards that can ease the public’s concern over escalating military tensions while also putting pressure on the North.

My experience in inter-Korean, high-level contacts can be used as a reference. In August 2015, a South Korean soldier lost a leg in a wooden box mine explosion. The South demanded that the North apologize and prevent recurrences and started loudspeaker broadcasts to pressure North Korea. At first, the North elevated the level of tension by declaring a “quasi-state of war.”

But when the threat didn’t work, the North abruptly changed its stance and proposed dialogue first. After all, during the four-day negotiations, North Korea expressed regret over the landmine provocation and agreed to facilitate the exchange as Korea demanded.

At this meeting, our government maintained the principle that it must address the North’s habitual wrongdoings. The people supported the government’s attitude of not being swayed by the North and protecting the safety of the people. As a result, we were able to win the North’s attitude change and concessions.

Peace on the Korean Peninsula is important, but blindly prioritizing peace is dangerous. Dialogue is necessary, but we must not rely on the goodwill of North Korea. Under no circumstances should the fundamental rights and safety of any of the 50 million South Koreans be compromised.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.