Change in NK policy needed

North Korea has illustrated that it will continue its “military first” policy, which comprises its nuclear armament and aggression against South Korea. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said Saturday, “We will complete the grand task of the ‘military first’ revolution by honorably calling Compatriot Kim Jong Un our supreme commander and military general.” This came a week after the death of Kim Jong Il. This suggests that the junior Kim, who assumed the vice chairmanship of the party`s Central Military Committee upon receiving the rank of full general last year, will likely assume the post of supreme commander soon. Kim Jong Il also started ruling North Korea as supreme commander in 1994 following the death of his father and country`s founder Kim Il Sung.

Jang Song Taek, Kim Jong Il’s brother-in-law and key patron, was seen wearing a military uniform with a full general`s badge for the first time Saturday while accompanying successor Kim Jong Un to pay respects to the late Kim Jong Il. Kim Kyong Hui, Jang’s wife and Kim Jong Il’s younger sister, became a full general last year. Therefore, the powerful military couple, who are aunt and uncle to the new ruler, appears to be protecting the 29-year-old supreme commander.

The trio have never served in the military but were hurriedly granted full general titles for North Korea to implement its military-first policy. Kim Jong Il conducted military aggression against South Korea and sought to strengthen his military through the development of nuclear weapons and missiles by banking on the policy. If Kim Jong Un inherits this policy from his late father, a change in Pyongyang cannot be expected.

Even though Kim Jong Un is poised to succeed his father as ruler based on the military-first policy, the South Korean government seems to be highly negligent and indifferent, causing fears among the people. The government issued a statement Tuesday, “We hope that North Korea regains stability soon so that South and North Korea can cooperate to assure peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.” In his meeting with the leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties Thursday, President Lee Myung-bak said, “These measures were taken to demonstrate that South Korea doesn`t perceive North Korea as the enemy,” adding, “If North Korean society stabilizes, we can handle inter-Korean relations flexibly as necessary.” Why is Seoul so impatient? If the South only emphasizes flexibility though it can hardly predict if and how the North will change, Seoul could end up trapping itself. This could be interpreted in South Korea and abroad that President Lee, fatigued by lasting tension amid Seoul’s pledge to stick to its principles, is effectively surrendering to Pyongyang despite no signs that the North’s attacks on the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island will be handled anytime soon.

South Korea has also not given its people confidence that it can accurate assess the situation in North Korea. Though the government had remained uninformed of Kim Jong Il’s death for 51 hours and 30 minutes, President Lee said, “South Korea’s intelligence capacity is not too weak to cause concern,” in displaying a flexible stance. He seemed to be trying to protect the chief of the National Intelligence Service when he said, “Our government learned of Kim’s death through Pyongyang’s announcement, but all other countries were unaware of the news either.” Sudden changes in the North are an extremely imperative matter to the South. As chief executive, President Lee should not be saying it was okay not to be aware just because other nations were not, either, and trying to self-justify the intelligence failure.

Through the Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland, North Korea said Sunday, “Whoever attempts to block any South Korean people from all walks of life from visiting our country to pay their respects (to Kim Jong Il), we will define them as criminals guilty of grave crimes and who defame our supreme dignity and never forgive them.” Pyongyang obviously remains unchanged, and Seoul cannot afford to negligently ease its sense of alertness.