Reducing Tensions in Korea

By Reginald Johnson                                     

                                       

   You get the feeling that if left up to the North and South Koreans, there might actually be some progress towards building peace on the Korean Peninsula.

  But whether South Korea’s “Big Brother” --- the United States --- will join in a move towards better relations with North Korea ---- that’s a whole different story.

     In recent months, there’s been several hopeful signs that something positive might be happening between the two Koreas, separated by the 38^th Parallel: diplomatic teams from both North and South Korea met in January to have talks for the first time in two years;  in February, athletes from North Korea came south to participate in the Winter Olympic games in Pyeongchang;  the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to the games as well, met with South Korean President Moon Jae and extended an invitation from Kim to come to North Korea.

    South Korean officials also said that North Korea representatives told them at a meeting during the Olympics that their country would be interested in talks with the United States.

   But the U.S. has been sending out mixed messages on whether it wants a better relationship with North Korea.

     Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that meeting with the North Koreans is a possibility.

    “My job as chief diplomat is to ensure that the North Koreans know, we keep our channels open on to listen, “ he told the CBS news show “60 Minutes.”

     But on Feb. 23, President Donald Trump announced a new round of trade sanctions against North Korea.  Administration officials said sanctions are designed to put pressure on North Korea to stop its development of nuclear weapons.

   Trump said he hoped the new sanctions would get North Korea to move to stop nuclear missile testing, which has been taking place on a regular basis in recent months.

    Trump threatened to move to “Phase 2” if the sanctions didn’t work. He didn’t spell out what “Phase 2” meant.

   For much of last year Trump and Kim exchanged insults and threats as North Korea launched a number of missile tests prompting criticism from the American side.

Soldiers loading howitzers into a Black Hawk helicopter at US base Camp Humphreys in South Korea (Wikipedia)

                                              

 Henry Lowendorf, chairman of the Greater New Haven Peace Council and a representative of the U.S. Peace Council said he believes there’s a good chance for a better relationship between the two Koreas.

    “Absolutely. I think there’s a real possibility,” he said. “I think everyone that looked at the Olympics has seen that as an indication of a willingness at least to talk to each other.  Before North Korea offered to create a joint North and South Korean team, the North Koreans refused to talk to the South Koreans.”

   Lowendorf said North Koreans believed for a long time there was no use in talking to South Korea because the U.S. “controls South Korea militarily” and the Americans would make all key decisions on dealing with the North. But North Korea’s approach seems to have changed.

   “ I think it was a real breakthrough ideologically for them to say ‘let’s talk to the South.’  They may have done this for various reasons, but one reason was they weren’t getting any traction with the United States,” he said.

   Lowendorf added the North Koreans may be trying to separate the South Koreans from the U.S.  “I think that’s exactly what they have to do. They have to encourage rationality on the part of the South Koreans, because they’re certainly not  going to find it with the United States.”

    While he saw a plan for a peace agreement possibly being discussed between the North and South, Lowendorf said the U.S. was likely to throw cold water on it.

   “This administration has no priorities, just game playing and how can they threaten and intimidate the other side, whoever the other side is,” he said.

   Lowendorf  said that the United States had previously rejected a proposal offered by the North Koreans,  the Chinese and the Russians that stipulated that in return for the North Koreans pausing their nuclear missile development program,  the U.S., South Korea and Japan would pause their “war on North Korea exercises” that go on frequently. The North Koreans also asked for a peace treaty with the United States in which both sides would agree not to attack each other.
     “What’s wrong with that proposal?” asked Lowendorf. “I can’t understand what’s wrong with that picture if you’re rational and humane.”

The U.S. maintains a large troop presence in South Korea, and a huge network of bases and military installations. America today has 35,000 troops in South Korea and 115 bases, both large and small, according to Prof. David Vine, the author of “Base Nation --- How US military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.”

     The U.S. has maintained a substantial military footprint in South Korea ever since the end of the Korean War in 1953. That war ended with a cease-fire but not a full peace agreement and both sides have kept their military forces on high alert on the possibility that fighting could break out again anytime.

  The Korean War was devastating for both sides, but particularly for North Korea. South Korea sustained nearly 1 million civilians killed or wounded.  North Korea sustained 1.5 million civilians killed or wounded and saw all of its major cities reduced to rubble by American bombing.

   Some observers believe the North Koreans are building their nuclear program to deter a possible attack by South Korea and the United States. They point to the fact that in recent years, the United States has attacked Iraq and Libya,  leaving both countries devastated. The U.S. is also involved in Syria, with American military personnel aiding insurgent groups trying to topple the government of Bashar al-Assad.

  For years, the U.S. has demanded that North Korea end its development of the nuclear weapons program, saying it poses a huge threat to South Korea, Japan and even the mainland of the United States. American officials, as well as other leaders around the world have also condemned the repressive nature of Kim’s regime, which has been cited by the UN for serious human rights violations.