[USFK Forums] Editorial: Appeasement of N.Korea Goes On Unabated [Chosun]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, March 25, 2006

Editorial: Appeasement of N.Korea Goes On Unabated

The Chosun Ilbo: Updated Mar.24,2006 21:24 KST

The entire 21-member South Korean press pool covering the family reunions at Mt. Kumgang walked out of the North Korean resort on Thursday in protest against the North's interference with their job.

They decided they had enough of Pyongyang’s attempts to meddle with their dispatches over terminology like “abduction” or “kidnapping” to describe what the North had done to some of those who were reunited with their families at the event. In the process, the North also delayed the departure of families after the reunions for 10 hours.

Instead of reflecting on the matter, the North Korean authorities shook an angry fist after the departing journalists, telling them not to come again. More, they demanded punishment of the “ringleaders” who disrupted the reunions.

The South Korean media can say “abduct” all they like: nobody in the North will hear it since they are denied access to our media. In other words, this was a message to South Korea to stop taking issue with Pyongyang’s abductions. Such acts are simply a way to tame South Korea. Thus an agreement to confirm the fate of South Koreans abducted by the North and prisoners of war who still languish there, reached only a month ago, has proved nothing but empty words.

It is not the first time the North has meddled in the South’s business. It forced South Korean Red Cross president Chang Choong-shik to resign because he mentioned the superiority of the South Korean system, and it did the same with unification minister Hong Soon-young, who had urged more rational negotiation practices, by declaring him persona non grata.

It detained South Korean tourists visiting Mt. Kumgang for nine hours for making disparaging remarks. When the Hyundai Group replaced Kim Yoon-kyu, its point man in negotiations with the North, it halved the quota for South Korean visitors to the mountain resort.

In the light of these incidents, there is no point trying to find a rationale for the latest antics. What matters is our government's response. The North's official news agency on Friday carried a statement saying that the second part of the family reunions would go ahead because the head of the South Korean delegation expressed “regret” over the conduct of the reporters.

The Unification Ministry said no "misconduct" or "apology" was mentioned in writing, but declined to make the written message public. Despite an announcement yesterday that Seoul protested against the interference with its media, nothing has changed in the government's approach to North Korea, which drags it around by its nose ring like a dancing bear.

The government claims it has banished the threat of war thanks to such limitless appeasement. But what we have gained is nothing but the fact that North Korea now has the bomb.


url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/ht...603240031.html