[Focus] Some reflections on North Korea policy

After an encounter between the South`s National Intelligence Service director, Lim Dong-Won, and the North`s ruling Workers Party secretary, Kim Yong-Sun, who came here as a special envoy of the North Korean leadership (Sept. 11-14), the government indicated the fate and whereabouts of all divided families would accounted for within the year. But the indications seem to have come to nothing in less than two months` time. A number of programs agreed upon between the two sides, including the exchange visits of separated families, failed to take place as scheduled. Pyongyang did not give relevant information and notification, canceling programs or unilaterally demanding the rescheduling of other programs, which the Seoul government has had to defer to. This has almost became the established mode of operation.

On Friday North Korea abruptly proposed that the 2nd round of working-level economic officials be held on Nov. 8, backing out of its earlier request to postpone them. The South sent a telephone message accepting the offer. The belated arrival on Friday of the list of the second group of family members to be reunited forced the postponement of the reunion, which had originally been planned for early November.

The Seoul government appears to have no alternative but to acquiesce to North Korea¡¯s repeated and unilateral breach of promises. Some would point to a limit to Seoul`s policy toward the North. Other specialists attribute such a lack of principle to the structural defects of various arms of government dealing with North Korean affairs. The Unification Ministry, which is nominally the supreme department taking charge of North Korea policy, is given less weight than the National Intelligence Service, which is supposed to be keeping all intelligence on North Korea to itself. The former might desire to file a protest with North Korea against its broken promises; in many cases, the complaints of the ministry are likely to be glossed over in the course of consultations with several governmental organizations, including the National Intelligence Service, reports say.

In fact, friction developed between these agencies during the inter-Korean negotiations. Unification Minister Park Jae-Kyu revealed his disaffection when he was denied access to visiting North Korean envoy Kim while he was negotiating with NIS chief Lim. On the last day of the encounter, Sept. 14, the NIS saw to it that five officials of the Seoul government, including Minister Park got together with four delegates from North Korea in a hurriedly arranged meeting. Many North Korea watchers view that besides the good faith and earnestness of North Korea, the Southern side is required to have a dignified and rigorous posture and a mechanism for formulating an effective and balanced North Korea policy.