The European Parliament has adopted a resolution denouncing North Korea over the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan with overwhelming support. On the last day of their June session on June 17 in Strasbourg, France, members of the European Union adopted a resolution against North Korea for the first time in four years since June 2006 when they passed a resolution calling for improvement in North Korea’s human rights situation. The latest resolution recognizes the findings of a multinational investigation team, which concluded that a North Korean torpedo attack caused the sinking the South Korean vessel, and condemns the North’s provocative act. Professor Kim Yong-hyun from the North Korean Studies Department at Dongguk University says the resolution merits attention for several reasons.

The resolution calls for North Korea to acknowledge its culpability. It is particularly notable that the resolution urges China and Russia, which have so far been lukewarm about criticizing North Korea, to take a turnaround approach on their position. Based on the evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the naval incident, the resolution strongly condemns the North for committing such an irresponsible and terrible act. The European Parliament also supported the South Korean government’s efforts to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council. Most EU members were in favor of the resolution, reflecting that the members of the European Parliament, whether they are conservatives or progressives, were making one voice in denouncing North Korea.

The resolution is calling on China, in particular, to exert an appropriate and positive influence on North Korea, while asking both South and North Korea to stay calm and make efforts to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula. Also, the resolution calls for the resumption of the six-party nuclear talks aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear programs and requests the EU Commission to continue existing humanitarian aid programs for North Korea and to maintain a dialogue channel with the reclusive country. Attention now swings to how the passage of the resolution will influence the U.N. Security Council’s handling of the same problem. Professor Kim continues to explain.

In the wake of the Cheonan disaster, South Korea has appealed greatly to the international community and managed to persuade many countries to understand its position. Against this backdrop, the European Parliament adopted a resolution against North Korea. It could pressure China and Russia psychologically, but it’s hard to expect the resolution to actually turn the tables. It is a symbolic move of the European nations to support the South Korean government’s position about the maritime incident.

Meanwhile, the discussions of this matter at the U.N. Security Council have been delayed until next month. The already protracted discussions will likely drag on further. Ambassadors of the Security Council members started a ten-day inspection tour of the Middle East, including Afghanistan, from June 19, so it will be hard to convene their official meeting before the end of this month. The U.N. discussions have entered a “rest period” on the surface, since the Security Council has yet to set the date for discussions and the ambassadors are expected to stay overseas for the time being. The Security Council held the first plenary session on June 14 when the two Koreas took turns briefing the council on the ship sinking. After that, however, the council has yet to set the schedule for additional discussions. Yet, Professor Kim explains it’s too early to conclude that the U.N. discussions came to a complete halt.

I don’t think the U.N. Security Council stopped discussing the Cheonan issue altogether. I’d say the discussions have come to a state of lull instead, with various behind-the-scenes discussions are still underway at an unofficial level. After all, it is China that can exercise a decisive influence on this matter. China has been passive in censuring North Korea, taking the Beijing-Pyongyang relations into consideration. It’s important what stance China will take in the future, but it is unlikely that China will change its position drastically. Russia, too, tends to follow Beijing’s Northeast Asia policy.

The South Korean government had hoped that the U.N. Security Council would wrap up its discussions over the Cheonan incident before Nigeria, which is relatively close to North Korea, assumes the Security Council presidency in July. But it doesn’t seem to work out that way, given the council’s current schedule. Some experts predict that it’s important for South Korea to elicit a positive response from China and Russia, based on three-way cooperation involving South Korea, Japan and the U.S. In this respect, we have to pay attention to the fourth Group of 20 summit to be held from June 26 in Toronto, Canada. The Seoul government will make an all-out effort to persuade China and Russia through cooperation with Japan and the U.S. Whether or not South Korea’s attempt will prove successful may influence the future course of U.N. discussions. At this point in time, however, most experts are weighing the possibility that the Security Council may adopt a presidential statement, not a new resolution.

The possibility of adopting a resolution against North Korea is rather low. With Resolution 1874 and Resolution 1718 already put in place, it will be almost impossible that a new resolution will impose heavier sanctions against North Korea. The Security Council may adopt a presidential statement, then. But it remains to be seen whether the statement will elucidate North Korea’s involvement in the Cheonan incident or simply use abstract phrases, like “no further military tension on the Korean Peninsula.”

It’s been 20 days since South Korea brought the Cheonan case to the U.N. Security Council. The government had expected to see a prompt and stern resolution or other types of statement. But such a possibility becomes more unlikely as time goes by. The U.S. and South Korea are pitted against China, which is sympathetic towards North Korea. Amid this confrontational structure, involved countries should make more active efforts so as not to render the Cheonan discussions unproductive.



[Interview] Event Calls Attention to S. Koreans Abducted to N. Korea during Korean War
In the afternoon of June 7, a large placard was hung in the International Conference Room at the Press Center, downtown Seoul. On the placard featured the printed photos of 157 South Korean people who were abducted to North Korea during the Korean War. The family members of the unfortunate abductees, mostly in their 70s and 80s, were waiting in line to lay carnations on the altar where the photos of the kidnap victims were placed. Before long, the whole room became a sea of tears.

…Here, I feel as if I saw my father. I’m grateful for offering flowers to my father in public. I’m guessing my father has already passed away. He would be 98 years old if he were still alive. I’m wondering if he started a new family in North Korea and had any children. I’m anxious to know how he had lived there.

…Sixty years have passed. I can still vividly remember the moment when my uncle was kidnapped to North Korea. I was a first grader at the time. I broke into tears when I saw his picture hung over there. I’m offering the flowers, recalling my uncle and the good old days.

This event was organized with the purpose of drawing attention to South Korean nationals abducted to the North during the Korean War, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War this year. The “Korean War Abductees’ Family Union,” the host of the event, is a private organization created by family members of the ill-fated South Koreans abductees. The group has been struggling to get to the bottom of the kidnapping issue and compiled a list of more than 90-thousand abductees for the first time. In 2008, the union filed a lawsuit charging the government 58 won, 1 won per year, for neglecting this humanitarian problem for the last 58 years. The organization has also collected the stories of the kidnap victims and relevant information to publish a 2,000-page collection of records about Korean War abductees. It has also been making strenuous efforts to legislate a special law concerning the kidnap victims. Ten years of their efforts bore fruit in March this year when a law was enacted to look into the kidnap cases during the Korean War and to honor the victims. The recent event was the first abductees-related event after the law was passed. During the event, the group conducted a DNA test on 30 children of kidnapped people and collected their blood and hair, in preparation for the repatriation of the bodies of their parents from North Korea. Here’s is Lee Mi-il, chief director of the union.

It took ten years to reap this result. When the war broke out 60 years ago, everybody knew the fact that many South Koreans were abducted to North Korea. For all those years, however, their families suffered from the guilty-by-association system and kept a low profile because they were not allowed to mention this issue explicitly. They faced many difficulties before producing the positive result today. Many of them have dedicated themselves to this country. I’d like to say, “Please do not forget their devotion.” This isn’t the problem of the families of kidnap victims only, but a problem of South Korea. I hope you will remember that.

During the event, North Korean defector Jang Gui-hwa who was the daughter of a South Korean abductee in North Korea talked about her own stories in the North and the reality of the communist country. She says no South Korean abductees in the North even dared to say they missed their South Korean homes. She also shared the story of the miserable life of her father, who was kidnapped from his hometown in Ganghwa Island in South Korea when he was 19.

I came here to testify my father’s wretched life as a South Korean abductee living in North Korea. Freedom is not guaranteed in North Korea, but my father was in an even worse situation: he was watched all the time and he couldn’t even imagine a free life. His children, including myself, could not go to college just because of the fact that he was from South Korea. In a word, children of kidnapped people can’t nurture their dreams in North Korea.

For those families, the Korean War, often dubbed the forgotten war, still remains as an indelible scar. Having their pains and sufferings in mind, we need to continue to show interest in the abductees issue and come up with more effective ways to resolve this humanitarian problem.