Looking at the South/North Korea Situation

The most difficult part of studying North Korea is to understand its internal politics because there is no way to obtain information. So begins an article in the Catholic Times on North Korea by a researcher. 

It is not the same as South Korea, where the minutes of the National Assembly are released and the press briefings of the Blue House are known. Therefore, the method of studying a political system, such as North Korea, where it is difficult to obtain internal information, they utilize "Kremlinology," As the name suggests, it is a method of analyzing media coverage in the West of the Cold War to grasp the situation inside the  Kremlin.

The researcher emphasizes that it is really difficult to analyze and predict North Korea's behavior. In the past month, speculations and opinions have come and gone about North Korea's bombing of the inter-Korean contact office in Kaesong and the harsh language against the South Korean government and leaders. However, it is necessary to be cautious in making a judgment on the meaning of the events.

Kim Yo-jong the first vice director of the  Workers' Party of North Korea, why is she making her appearance beside her brother Kim Jong-un?  Why at this time? What is the ultimate purpose of the action? And why are they so sensitive about the South sending leaflets to the North? Many are the questions that we can continue to ask about the behavior of the North. Not to one of them are we able to give a confident answer. South Korea is not the only country dealing with the North. The United States and China, the latter an ally, both have a powerful intelligence capability but a difficult relationship with the North.

In any case, North Korea's military action plan against South Korea was put on hold because of Kim Jong-un's absence (?). The scene of the explosion of the inter-Korean contact office in Kaesong was terrifying. Nevertheless, the hope the researcher saw was that, unlike the nasty talk from North Korea, it was only property damage. She has no desire to lessen the harm that was done and the serious monetary loss of 17 billion won that disappeared, at least this time persons were not hurt.

During the 70 years since the war on the Korean Peninsula broke out, the bad times between the North and South have been more numerous than the good times. The recent incident with the destruction of the Inter-Korean contact office was not one of the worst.

Although we continue to complain of the incidents, accidents that occurred on the Korean Peninsula during the Cold War, the inter-Korean relations are clearly improving. Since the sinking of the Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island that occurred 10 years ago, and the DMZ incident in the DMZ five years ago, the inter-Korean relations are steadily improving even though slowly. 

Looking at issues on the Korean Peninsula in June, the writer recommends we pay attention to the subtle differences between worst and less worst rather than criticizing that the efforts have been meaningless in inter-Korean relations. We can have hope from this difference and be patient. "Because patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope..." (Romans 5, 4).