North Korea is escalating tension on the peninsula to record levels by completing a second nuclear test earlier this week, following its first one in 2006. At 9:55 a.m. on May 25, South Korea’s weather agency detected an artificial earthquake with a 4.4 magnitude on the Richter scale. The agency calculated the blast occurred near Punggye-ri in Gilju County, northeast of North Korea, where the nation conducted its first nuclear test. About two hours later, North Korea’s Central News Agency said the nation successfully conducted an underground nuclear test. The South Korean government later officially confirmed the test. The latest nuclear experiment came two years and seven months after the North’s first nuclear test in 2006, and just one month after the nation warned about another nuclear test unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes for its sanctions against the North’s long-range rocket launch. Here’s Dr. Hong Hyun-ik from the Sejong Institute to analyze foreign and domestic factors behind the North’s earlier-than-expected nuclear test.

Inside the nation, it’s nearly certain the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, is suffering from ill health, so the North Korean authorities needed to strengthen the military’s loyalty and tighten public discipline, having a prospective power transfer in mind. To fulfill these purposes, the nation wanted to demonstrate its status as a military powerhouse. And North Korea ultimately chose a nuclear test. Outside the nation, the U.N. Security Council adopted a presidential statement condemning the North’s April 5th rocket launch. Pyongyang seems to have concluded that it should enhance its nuclear deterrent for self-defense because it can no longer depend on China or Russia for its national defense.

Following its nuclear test on Monday morning, the North fired two short-range missiles to the East Sea later in the afternoon. The next day, North Korea again fired three more missiles. Experts believe the North is using the missile launches as a means of blocking U.S. and Japanese reconnaissance planes seeking to track information about the North’s nuclear test. Dr. Hong explains why North Korea went ahead with the surprising nuclear test and missile launches at this particular time.

Several months have passed since the inauguration of the Obama administration, but the U.S. still remains lukewarm toward North Korean issues. It seems the North wants to increase its bargaining power before starting negotiations with the U.S. The North chose Memorial Day on May 25 for its nuclear test, in a bid to send a strong message to the U.S. leadership and its people that the North’s nuclear capability will continue to intensify unless Washington negotiates with Pyongyang. The North will put two American journalists on trial on June 4. After the trial, North Korea may possibly release them in order to facilitate dialogue with the U.S. If that happens, it will be difficult for the North to conduct a nuclear test amid the reconciliatory mood. So, Pyongyang chose May 25 to bolster its nuclear capability before entering the reconciliation phase.

So, how extensive is the North’s nuclear capability? North Korea claimed the blast was carried out on a higher level than the 2006 test, stressing an improvement in explosive power and control technology. Experts estimate that the latest detonation was at least 20 times as powerful as the first one.

The first test in 2006 had an explosion yield of a mere one kiloton. But the latest one is estimated to have been much more powerful, with a yield of 10 to 20 kilotons, which is roughly equivalent to the yield of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. In other words, the North seems to have almost succeeded in its nuclear test. The long-range missile, apparently disguised as a satellite, the North fired on April 5 is capable of carrying a heavy nuclear warhead. And repeated nuclear tests can make nuclear warheads smaller. So, North Korea is nearing the level of actually using nuclear arms in real warfare.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government convened a National Security Council meeting and defined the North’s nuclear test as a provocation that clearly violates the U.N. Security Council resolution 1718. During telephone conversations with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. President Barack Obama, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed his will toward close cooperation with the international community and strong countermeasures against the North’s move. The South Korean military authorities have strengthened defense readiness, raising the warning of the North’s nuclear contingency to the highest level of “Red.” Also, reactions against the North’s nuclear test have been made quickly at the U.N. level. Attention is being paid to whether the U.N. will release a new resolution to impose sanctions against North Korea, following the ones in 2006.

Japan immediately asked the U.N. Security Council to convene an emergency meeting, which took place at 5:30 a.m. on May 26, Korean time. In an official statement, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitali Churkin, the current council president, strongly denounced North Korea’s nuclear test and pledged to work on a resolution with binding force. Accordingly, Japan is preparing for a new resolution to slap sanctions on the North. When the resolution is discussed at the U.N. level, China and Russia will likely be less supportive of North Korea, because they don’t want their neighbor to possess nuclear weapons. Therefore, it is possible for the U.N. to issue a stronger resolution this time around, compared to the ones in 2006.

Some analyze that North Korea’s second nuclear test comprises the peak of a series of brinkmanship tactics it has shown for the past couple of months, including the launch of a long-range rocket. The international community should display wisdom and concerted efforts, other than U.N. Security Council’s sanctions, in order to end the current crisis quickly and bring peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula.


[Interview] School Principal Committed to Resettlement of N. Korean Teenage Defectors
North Korean teenage defectors are leaning English from a native English-speaking teacher at “Three Four School” in Dangsan-dong, western Seoul. Many classes of this school have been designed to elicit active participation from the students. The native English teacher’s class is one of them. In another popular class, students are eager to engage in intense debate after reading newspapers. Three Four School is an alternative school for students from North Korea. Established in 2004, the school has provided junior high school curricula. The name of the school, Three Four, was created in a similar context of “One Two School” at Hanawon, a rehabilitation center for North Korean defectors. Hana means “one” in Korean. School principal Park Sang-young had the special reason in setting up this school.

I served as an office worker for about one and half years. While working, I found myself hoping to lead a different life, since it was the only life I had. Why not live it more meaningfully? So I began to work at a non-governmental organization. I visited Longjing, China, for volunteer work in 1999. There, I happened to meet three North Korean teenagers who had escaped their home country just two or three days before. I hung around with them for a week, even sneaking to Mt. Baekdu with them by bus. After returning home, I forgot about them. But two years later, one of the children came to Seoul. While listening to the problems of young defectors from the North, I wondered how I could help them resettle in South Korea in a healthier way. So I started the school project.

The school’s classes were first conducted in a half-underground rented room located in Daehakro, northern Seoul. The institution has since developed into an alternative school with four permanent teachers, 60 volunteer teachers and 22 students. The teaching staff is proud to help the North Korean students adjust to South Korean society properly through a variety of experience and cultural programs. Under the school’s educational mission, “Proceed with Confident, yet Soft Steps,” Mr. Park has been committed to nurturing the young defectors as confident and responsible members of South Korean society. And the school owes its success to his heartfelt enthusiasm and efforts.

This school has more art and cultural classes, compared to other schools. I believe students should be allowed to have fun in school so they can build healthy relationships with their peers and teachers. That’s why we provide various cultural programs, in which students sing, dance and stage mime performances and puppet shows featuring their own stories. We also offer classes that are seldom found in other ordinary schools, such as “Love and Marriage,” “Everyday Life and Law,” “Economy and My Life” and “Story of Religion.” These classes help the students better understand South Korean society and eventually take root here in a more healthy and confident way.

In addition, Park has created new textbooks tailored to meet the needs of North Korean students. He has also launched the “Career School” designed to assist the students to choose jobs that will suit their personalities and aptitudes. But the school suffers from financial difficulties, since no government subsidy is provided to this unauthorized school. The school attempted to make a CD for teenagers from the North this year, but it hasn’t been easy to carry out the project. Yet Mr. Park feels more frustrated by the students themselves, who have a hard time accommodating to a new South Korean environment.

For the students, it’s most important to love themselves. But they are ashamed of having defected from North Korea, and they are reluctant to talk about their past stories. Many students have a hard time accepting new South Korean culture and they often fail to build sound relationships with people. This school tries to help the timid students discover their own talents, which will make them distinguished from other people. If they step into the society armed with their special talents, they will be able to produce good results.

Mr. Park stresses that it’s most important to help the students realize the value of their own lives. He says he can learn a lot from the students, who improve themselves day after day. For the sake of his students, he is ready to carry out another new plan.

I’d say this is a one-legged school, since there are defector students only. We hope to open the door wider to accept South Korean students as well. North and South Korean students will be able to get to know each other better and understand differences, while studying, living and traveling together. I hope the school will be the venue where the students from the two Koreas can find ways to live in harmony. We plan to operate the school in this way, starting as early as this fall.

Here’s hoping his teaching and dedication will contribute to the successful resettlement of the young newcomers.