America's Focus on Iraq Neglects a North Korean Threat

Author: Sara Yun

As soon as the crisis in Iraq dies down, the American eye will inevitably refocus on the Korean peninsula. So before we are hit once again with abundant headlines dealing with North Korea's monster of a leader, Kim Jong Il, and the evil his communist dynasty is cooking up for the world, I feel it's necessary to educate the Middlebury community. America needs to employ a more informed approach in its relations with the Korean peninsula.
As a Korean residing in the United States, I am outraged by the media's coverage of my country. After 58 years of deep involvement in Korea, America still knows relatively little about Korea. Editorials are quick to condemn Koreans as ungrateful for American military protection. Meanwhile, magazines do not hesitate to propagate the image of Kim Jong Il as a North Korean monster. I am compelled to ask whether the leader of a Caucasian nation receives similar treatment.
Also, it is blatantly foolish to interpret sporadic anti-American protests by a minority of the Korean population as representative of general public opinion in North and South Korea. Truthfully, what underlies much of the hysterical anti-Americanism this past year in the Korean Peninsula is a Korean spirit yearning, albeit too fervently and too soon, for a chance at autonomy and self-identity. Now their fate hinges upon the successful resolution of a nuclear crisis, which rests largely on American policy concerning North Korea. Thus I plead my case.
North Korea is different from Iraq. North Korea has reasons to pursue a nuclear agenda given its position as a small power. For example, soon after the signing of the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework, the United States planned not to meet its end of the bargain, instead believing that the North's regime would not live to see the day of the provisions.
Such an attitude is fatal, particularly when dealing with a North Korean government that possesses an iron will to unify the Korean Peninsula by force. To date, there are no serious signs of collapse or social unrest.
Professor David C. Kang of Dartmouth argues that while Kim Jong Il is brutal and repressive, he nevertheless exhibits extraordinary political savvy. Then why do President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismiss Kim as an idiot to be loathed by all Americans?
Yes, I too wish Kim Jong Il never existed and that communism had never tainted Korea. But I accept the reality of North Korea's circumstances and I hope only for a more conciliatory, accommodating approach.
Leon Sigal of the Social Science Research Council and Bruce Cumings of the University of Chicago both declare with confidence that North Korea is fully capable of pursuing an underground nuclear program if it so desired. It chose, instead, to publicly state its activities, an indication that North Korea seeks to use weapons as a bargaining chip. After adhering to its commitment to a moratorium on testing ballistic missiles for four years, North Korea's patience expired while the promises afforded them by the Clinton administration appeared forgotten or abandoned.
As for the future outlook, North Korea has thankfully implemented economic reforms and shows visible signs of progress. Professor Kang points to efforts by North Korea to normalize relations with many nations, allow the market to set prices, mandate the teaching of English in high schools and restructure national law to accommodate international trade.
On a humorous note, which indicates the acculturation of American entertainment, this hermit state has displayed a particular affinity to pizza and films like "The Little Mermaid" and "Titanic!"
We should applaud these moves and aim for greater improvement. The Bush administration should cease contemplating a military agenda and start envisioning a diplomatic victory in Korea. If North Korea is attacked, it could, out of desperation, destroy South Korea, a country that has built itself up to be the 12th largest economy in the world. Ever since President Bush shunned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kim Dae Jung in 2001 for his idealism, the United States has only managed to consistently reach new levels of confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

Seo Young (Sara) Yun is a political science and Italian major from Seoul, South Korea.