North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has held a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing. Speculation over Kim’s trip to China had been rampant since Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Pyongyang in October last year. The high-profile summit came at a time of mounting tension between South and North Korea over the sinking of the South Korean navy patrol ship, the Cheonan. Most experts assume that the North Korean leader, feeling a sense of crisis amid growing suspicions of North Korea’s involvement in the naval incident, chose to visit China at this particular time to try to maneuver the development of the Cheonan case to the North’s favor. Here’s Hong Hyun-ik from the Sejong Institute to explain.
North Korea is considered the primary suspect in the March 26 sinking of the South Korean Cheonan warship, with an ongoing investigation searching for hard evidence. If the findings of the probe indicate Pyongyang was behind the incident, the South Korean government may seek to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council for additional sanctions against the North. Chairman Kim seems to have rushed to a summit with China in order to secure diplomatic support from Beijing, rather than simply wait for the result of the probe into the sinking. During a summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on April 30, Chinese President Hu Jintao recognized South Korea’s “scientific and objective” investigation into the case that is still underway. It appears that Kim Jong-il, for fear of losing China’s support and a complete international isolation, decided to visit China right away.
This is Kim’s fifth trip to China as head of state, and four years and four months after his last visit in 2006. South Korea, of course, and other neighboring countries are anticipating the result of the rare North Korea-China summit, during which Kim is believed to have made a strong demand for economic aid. The North Korean economy is deteriorating rapidly amid the continuous international sanctions in the wake of the North’s second nuclear test last year. For now, North Korea has no specific means to overcome the economic problems, which have worsened further due to a failed currency reform enacted last November. Furthermore, the impoverished North is expected to see a food shortage of more than 1 million tons this year. For North Korea, given the adverse situation inside and outside the nation, China is the only country to depend on. Ahead of the summit in Beijing, Chairman Kim toured Dalian and then the Binhai New Area in Tianjin, where economic development in underway. Kim’s itinerary indicates the most important purpose of his China visit.
The food shortage in North Korea has exacerbated since the botched currency reform. The nation must address this problem in this the spring lean season, while daily necessities are in short supply. Obviously, the North Korean leader badly wants to receive food and energy aid from China. North Korea also seeks reform and openness in its own way in an apparent bid to secure enough money to rule the regime by developing cities along the Aprok River and the Tumen River and inducing outside investment. The North’s desperate efforts to lure foreign investment are seen in the establishment of an investment and trade zone in the Rajin-Seonbong area, northeastern part of the country. Due to the ongoing international economic sanctions, there are few countries, other than China, that North Korea can rely on for investment. Economic assistance Kim wants to receive from China includes the provision of food and energy, such as oil, and China’s invest in Shinuiju and the Rajin-Seonbong Area on the border with China.
But what grabs our attention the most is whether North Korea mentioned the six-party denuclearization talks during the North Korea-China summit. Chinese President Hu Jintao has reportedly asked North Korea to come back to the six-party talks, while Chairman Kim said his nation is ready to rejoin the talks. With involved countries seeking to maintain the momentum of resuming the stalled talks, experts predict that Chairman Kim’s China visit could provide a breakthrough for resuming the six-party nuclear talks, as North Korea needs to cement friendly ties with China, which chairs the multilateral negotiations, and to demonstrate some sincerity in return for China’s economic aid for the North. Let’s listen again to Mr. Hong.
China, the host country of the six-party talks, finds North Korea’s nuclear development a serious security threat, since it could lead to nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula and in Japan as well. Therefore, it serves China’s national interest to thwart the North’s nuclear development. But China is also aware that too much pressure may prompt the North Korean regime to face crisis or even collapse. So Beijing is trying to mediate between North Korea and the West on a centrist stance and coordinate their differing opinions. China frowns upon the North’s nuclear ambitions, but it recognizes the need to address the nuclear issue with patience. Therefore, it is highly likely that China will take steps to reconvene the six-party talks. That is, North Korea and the United States may make bilateral contact, followed by preliminary talks for the six-party talks and the final resumption of the talks. China is expected to steer the situation in that direction.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has made its official response to Kim Jong-il’s China visit. Top U.S. nuclear envoy Sung Kim says that even if Chairman Kim declares his nation’s return to the six-party talks, the multilateral dialogue will not restart until the probe into the sinking of the Cheonan warship is completed. These remarks were made at the annual Seoul-Washington Forum held in Washington Wednesday, May 5. On the same day, the State Department also expressed its official position that it will watch the result of the investigation into the ship sinking for the time being, reiterating that North Korea’s actions had clearly influenced the pace of the nuclear negotiations before. Attentive to the result of the North Korea-China summit, the South Korean government is busy studying future countermeasures. So then, how will the North Korea-China summit influence future inter-Korean relations?
Kim’s China visit will likely dilute South Korea’s attempt to impose further sanctions against the North. On the flip side, it may keep inter-Korean ties from going to extremes. If the South Korean government shows hard evidence to prove North Korea is responsible for the Cheonan ship sinking, China will join in the move to slap additional sanctions on the North. But simple suspicions, without material evidence, will only induce China to move toward the resumption of the six-party talks and keep Seoul’s attempt to impose sanctions on North Korea in check. Kim Jong-il’s China trip may serve as kind of a counterweight to inter-Korean ties.
The North Korean leader’s China visit and the bilateral summit are expected to have a significant impact on the nuclear issue and inter-Korean relations. We hope the latest development will help untangle diplomatic setbacks on the Korean Peninsula, still mired in the tragic naval ship sinking and the stalled six-party talks.
[Interview] NExhibition Features Dire Human Rights Situation in N. Korea
I’m Jang Gil-su, Han-mi’s father. I have 16 relatives here, including my family members. I drew pictures for about a year after I defected from North Korea in 1999. In hopes of letting people around the world know the harsh reality of North Korea, we wrote, painted pictures and made folded-paper cranes. There is the Labor Training Institute in North Korea, where those who committed small crimes are taken to do forced labor. Countless people there are starving and collapsing. When they can no longer work, they are stoned to death. I drew pictures depicting this horrible scene. South Koreans can’t even imagine such a situation. Even if they could, they could never draw a picture like this. I hope many people will see these pictures at the exhibition and realize how serious and miserable the North Korean situation is. I hope they will raise their voices against the severe human rights abuses in North Korea.
While hiding out in China after escaping North Korea, Jang Gil-su and his family drew international attention with a stark depiction of North Korea through paintings. Gil-su’s grandmother and uncle crossed the Tumen River to flee from North Korea in 1997, and other relatives followed suit in 1999. Through five rounds of defection, a total of 16 people from four families managed to escape North Korea. Entitled “A Warmer Southern Country,” a painting exhibition featuring the dramatic story of Jang’s family was recently held at the Seoul Gallery at the Korea Press Center in downtown Seoul. The paintings of Jan’s family were given wider publicity, thanks to Mun Guk-han, representative of the International Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, which hosted this event. Let’s listen to Mun.
The first section expresses the story of Jang and his family, who arrived in South Korea in 2001. Their paintings and journals have been known to the international community, but it’s the first time that those works, along with hundreds of thousands of folded-paper cranes they had made while hiding out, have been made public in South Korea. The second exhibition room displays their train tickets, bus tickets and other items they had gathered in the course of escaping North Korea. Visitors are amazed to discover these defectors had never even neglected a single train ticket, much less human life. We hoped to help the visitors empathize with the defectors looking around these items.
The exhibition was held for one week, starting April 25, as part of the events of “North Korea Freedom Week 2010 Seoul.” This annual event has been held in Washington D.C. in the last week of April each year since 2004, led by American human rights activist Suzanne Scholte, with the purpose of calling for improvement in human rights conditions in North Korea. For this year’s event, which took place for the first time in South Korea, a variety of interesting programs were prepared. The painting exhibition, for example, displayed a total of 50 pieces, including the original paintings of Jang and his family that had already been released to the media, as well as some paintings that had gone unseen until now. Here again is Mr. Mun.
There are about 300 pieces, and 50 works were presented today. One of the impressive pictures describes a man stripping a bark off a pine tree because there’s nothing to eat. Another picture features a man stealing corn in the corn field. Behind this hungry man, a solider is threatening to shoot him unless he stops stealing. To understand the situation in North Korea, where people are risking their lives for just a few kernels of corn, we need to figure out the fundamental problems of the communist state rather than simply providing food aid to the impoverished neighbor.
Other paintings vividly illustrate the grim reality of human rights violations in North Korea and how Jang’s family members fled from North Korea at the risk of their lives. But it seems most South Korean viewers can hardly believe the reality North Korean people face, portrayed in the drawings.
…Some paintings, displayed at the entrance over there, depict the plight Gil-su and his family endured in order to survive and finally reach South Korea. Looking at the paintings, I realize what it would be like to defect from North Korea. It’s shocking, indeed. We can’t even imagine. I wish my children will see the pictures, too.
…Many North Korean people are starving to death, but South Koreans do not know it very well. South Korean people find it hard to imagine such a disturbing situation. It’s distressing to see people trying to survive in such a miserable way.
Mr. Mun says the exhibition isn’t the end, but another beginning of revealing the severe human rights abuses in North Korea. He is planning to hold the exhibition across South Korea and around the world as well to raise international interest in the North Korean human rights issue. Here’s wishing that these paintings and Mr. Mun’s heartfelt efforts will contribute to improving the human rights of our brothers and sisters in North Korea.