A spokesman for the chief of the General Staff of North Korea’s People’s Army made a provocative statement on January 17. The spokesman said that South Korea has chosen the road to confrontation with the help of foreign powers and denied inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, so the North’s revolutionary armed forces will take an all-out confrontational posture to shatter the South’s scheme. In the strongly-worded message, North Korea also warned that it may employ strong military measures to preserve what it calls the “maritime military demarcation line” off the west coast. It was the first time in nearly ten years that a spokesman for the North Korean army’s general staff appeared on Chosun Central TV to make a statement. Here’s Professor Kim Geun-sik from the University of North Korean Studies.

It’s significant that North Korea issued the statement through the army’s General Staff, which is in charge of the nation’s core military strategies, not through the National Defense Commission or organizations dealing with inter-Korean issues, such as the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. The North Korean Army spokesman, wearing a military uniform, appeared on TV to denounce South Korea in front of North Korean people, grabbing attention in the South. Previously, statements were read by military officers on television in December of 1998 and in September of 1999. But since then, no military spokesperson has appeared on TV. The confrontational statement issued by the army spokesman in full dress uniform is considered to be a message directed toward both South Korea and the North Korean people.

North Korea’s message is simple and clear. It urges the Lee Myung-bak government to respect agreements signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Lee’s predecessors and to change its hostile North Korea policy. The North warns that Seoul will suffer significant damage by military clashes between the two sides, unless the South accepts the North’s request. In the past, reporters of state-run agencies in North Korea read statements of the People’s Army and the Foreign Ministry. But this time, North Korea refused to follow the old practice. Some experts are worried about the possibility of military provocation by North Korea. Is it possible that Pyongyang will actually launch a military attack against the South? Professor Kim has the answer.

North Korea’s threats are unlikely to lead to any military action. The North is expected to make an all-out effort to win over the Obama administration in the U.S. A military clash on the Korean Peninsula might draw attention from the new U.S. government, but it wouldn’t be advantageous to North Korea when negotiating with Washington. But we still cannot rule out the possibility that an accidental military skirmish between the two Koreas will escalate tension in the region, even if the North Korean authorities may not intend to do so, since the North officially announced its willingness to take military actions when necessary. Therefore, both South and North Korea should take necessary measures to prevent an unexpected naval clash on the West Sea, a tinderbox for inter-Korean confrontation, even though Pyongyang may not create military provocation intentionally.

In the statement, North Korea vowed to preserve the “maritime military demarcation line” in the West Sea. The line is a sea boundary proclaimed unilaterally by the North in September of 1999. South and North Korea had recognized the Northern Limit Line, or NLL, drawn up by the U.N. forces in August of 1953 to prevent accidental collision between the two Koreas on the West Sea. But following an inter-Korean naval clash in June of 1999, North Korea declared the NLL invalid. Pyongyang drew its own inter-Korean western sea border and attempted to nullify the NLL, citing two maritime incidents near the sea borderline. Conflict over the sea border lingered until 2007 when Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to establish a special zone for peace and cooperation in the area near the maritime border during the second inter-Korean summit. But the peace zone project became a mere scrap of paper after the inauguration of the conservative Lee Myung-bak government in South Korea last year, and the two sides are now facing an increasing risk of armed conflict on the West Sea. So why did North Korea issue a threat of a ‘total confrontation’ against the South, despite the risk of military provocation?

I think North Korea has made fresh threats in a bid to place the strongest possible pressure on Seoul, since it thinks the Lee Myung-bak government has caused relations with Pyongyang to deteriorate over the past year. Inter-Korean ties have virtually been cut off since North Korea stopped the Gaeseong tour program and slashed the number of South Korean officials stationed in the Gaeseong industrial park on December 1st last year. Despite the drastic measures, Seoul hasn’t made any notable moves. So Pyongyang seems to be attempting to pressure the South to change its North Korea policy once again by mentioning the possibility of military clashes between the two sides. By heightening military tension in the region, the North also intends to get more attention from the Obama government and push the North Korean issue as the most important diplomatic concern.

In response to the North’s recent threats, South Korean military authorities have put all military forces on high alert and strengthened surveillance of the North Korean military in the sea border areas. The authorities defined the North’s statement as a grave threat and a detriment to the efforts to build military trust between the two sides. In contrast to the military’s state of heightened alert, the Seoul government’s attitude remains unchanged.

The Lee government remains calm and adheres strictly to its principle that it won’t extend a hand to North Korea before Pyongyang makes a request. Therefore, Seoul hasn’t responded to the North’s recent statement, although the government ordered the military to be on a full alert against any dangerous move by the North. In other words, the South Korean government is determined not to be swayed by Pyongyang’s political move, but to preemptively thwart a possible armed provocation by the North.

Foreign media agencies note that North Korea made the controversial statement three days before Obama’s inauguration in the U.S. That is, the abrupt statement is considered a message toward the new U.S. government, not the South Korean one. But Washington has given no response to the North’s recent statement, since it is directly aimed at the Seoul government. Negotiations between North Korea and the new U.S. administration may begin soon. Here’s hoping North Korea-U.S. relations will progress well and help ease the strained inter-Korean ties. 　 [Interview] ‘Yollin Dental Society’ Volunteers Services to N. Korean Defectors
Late at night, a number of people crowd into a community center in Garibong-dong in Seoul, where volunteers from a local dentist group are treating patients for free. The members of the ‘Yollin Dental Society’ are offering services to migrant foreign workers and North Korean defectors who haven’t received proper dental care because they are unable to pay for the treatment.

…The dentists were kind enough to treat my aching teeth. I can’t thank them enough. Every time I said I had a problem, they were willing to come to me without complaint. I really appreciate it.
…I’ve never visited a dentist before because I heard I had to pay a hefty sum of money. But I don’t have to worry about money here. Thank you, doctors, for treating me. I’ll try harder to live a better life.

The ‘Yollin Dental Society’ was launched in 1999. ‘Yollin’ means ‘open’ in Korean. It is committed to helping underprivileged people and North Korean defectors who have resettled in South Korea. The society organized a volunteer group consisting of 70 dentists and 60 technicians and nurses who now treat patients three times a week. Kim Min-jae, one of the dentists, says it’s hard for the volunteers to spend time on this work because all of them either run dental clinics or do other paid jobs. But every one of them is eager to participate in the charity work.

It’s only natural that we share what we have with other people, because we all live in the same society. We’re dentists, so we offer our skills, just as rich people donate their money. So, we do service physically.

The volunteer group is well known to almost all North Korean defectors who have entered the South since September of 2003 because the group members offered dental services at Hanawon, a training center for such defectors. In the initial stage, members of religious groups or individual dentists used to treat the newcomers from the North at the rehabilitation center. But the number of defectors entering the South increased sharply, raising the need for assistance from this dental volunteer group.

In North Korea, dental care is mostly about pulling teeth. It is said there are prosthetic dentists, but patients are allowed to receive denture treatments only in particular regions. In a word, many North Koreans can’t get proper dental treatment. Here, we organized a team of more than ten dentists, and the team usually treats North Korean defectors on Sundays.

One of the patients Kim treated at Hanawon was a six-year-old child whose teeth were decayed. Kim thinks the situation would be much better if there were enough toothbrushes, toothpaste and medicine in North Korea. That’s why the dental society sent dental equipment to the North. Some of the members have volunteered to treat patients at a dental clinic in North Korea for a couple of years, and the group delivered medical supplies worth 8,000 US dollars to North Korea after a train explosion at Ryongchon Railway Station in April of 2004.

I wish the South Korean dentists could treat the Northern patients more thoroughly. But it’s hard to offer them 100 percent perfect treatment, due to insufficient time and budget, which I find frustrating. I think I’ll retire in ten years. After that, I’d like to treat patients in North Korea, as long as I can travel to the North freely. I hope I can realize my dream very soon.

Kim hopes that many more volunteers will share love with North Korean newcomers and other marginalized people. Hopefully, the heartfelt love and dedication of the volunteer dentists will inspire the defectors with hope for a better future.