Tension is escalating on and around the Korean Peninsula in the wake of North Korea’s firing of artillery shells on Yeonpyeong Island near the inter-Korean maritime border on the West Sea and the joint military drill between South Korea and the U.S. in the same waters. Following North Korea’s artillery provocation last week, South Korea and the U.S. conducted a four-day joint military exercise starting November 28. The two countries deployed Aegis-equipped destroyers and other naval vessels during the drill, including the South Korean Aegis destroyer King Sejong the Great and the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington. With fighter jets actually shooting mock targets in the sea, the allied militaries demonstrated their immediate combat readiness against any military attack from North Korea. They also conducted maritime defensive and offensive warfare drills in a scenario in which North Korea launches strikes against five South Korean islands near the western inter-Korean maritime border. Here’s Dr. Jeon Hyeon-jun from the Korea Institute for National Unification to explain.

South Korea and the U.S. have jointly held preventive, defensive military exercises before. During the recent naval drill, however, the two allies’ commitment to deterring North Korean provocations seemed firmer than in any previous maneuvers. They clearly demonstrated their will to launch a counterattack even on North Korean land if the North made a similar provocation again. Obviously, this is a warning message toward North Korea, which has habitually made armed provocations against the South in the belief that neither South Korea nor the U.S. would retaliate for its military attack because they are wary of war. But that’s not the case, as seen in the recent joint drill between South Korea and the U.S., which was a jolting wake-up call for North Korea.

Meanwhile, North Korea has abruptly expressed regret over the deaths of South Korean civilians as a result of its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. In a commentary run by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on November 27, Pyongyang said the death of civilians from the shelling, if proved true, is very regrettable. But it shifted responsibility to South Korea, claiming that the South had deployed civilians around artillery positions. Diplomatic experts speculate that North Korea felt burdened by the South Korea-U.S. joint military drill, its deteriorating international reputation and, most of all, Chinese pressure. Beijing sent its State Councilor Dai Bingguo to South Korea on November 27, and the next day, Beijing’s chief nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei proposed an emergency meeting of representatives of the stalled six-party nuclear talks early this month.

China seems to have concluded that it just cannot sit idle forever, but it’s time to do something. China has been rather passive in dealing with the Cheonan row, thinking that North Korea was not to blame for the incident. But this time, China acknowledges the fact that North Korea bombarded the South Korean island. China doesn’t want the mishap to lead to a war between the two Koreas, since it runs counter to its own national interest, that is, a peaceful solution to Korean Peninsula issues. That is why Beijing is actively intervening in the dispute by persuading the involved countries to resume the six-party talks. Most participants of the multilateral talks insist that the U.N. Security Council impose sanctions on North Korea, while China seeks to resolve the problem through dialogue, namely, the six-party talks.

However, most experts agree that China’s proposal seems unrealistic right now. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made it clear that it was not the right time to discuss resuming the six-party talks during a meeting with Dai Bingguo, while the White House says that without an agreement from North Korea to come to the six-party talks to seriously address the denuclearization issue, the multilateral discussions are just a PR activity. Japan, too, clarified its position not to accept China’s proposal of reconvening the six-party talks. As South Korea, Japan and the U.S. virtually rejected the resumption of the six-party talks, experts stress that it’s all the more necessary for China to play an important role. But Dr. Jeon explains there is a limit to what China can do.

It’s true that North Korea relies most heavily on China, with its economic dependence on China amounting to 80 percent. If China fully suspended its economic aid to North Korea, the Kim Jong-il regime would completely collapse. Considering that China has traditionally avoided putting diplomatic pressure on third-world countries, however, it’s very unlikely that China will exert strong pressure on Pyongyang. North Korea believes that it has survived on its own based on its juche or self-reliant ideology, not being influenced by any pressure from the outside world. So, even if China places pressure on the North, the reclusive nation may resist it. I think there is a certain limit to China’s role in pressuring North Korea not to commit an act of aggression again.

On November 29, about a week after North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, President Lee Myung-bak delivered a somber speech, which started with a public apology for the government’s much-criticized response to the artillery barrage from the North.

Today, I’m standing here with a sense of full responsibility for failing to protect the lives and property of the people.

President Lee defined North Korea’s military attack on civilians as a crime against humanity. He said he realized it would not be wise to expect North Korea to voluntarily give up on its nuclear programs and pledged stern retaliation against North Korea for any further provocation. That is, South Korea will focus more on pressure on North Korea through international collaboration rather than through dialogue or economic cooperation with the North. Here again is Dr. Jeon.

South Korea needs to take a two-pronged carrot-and-stick approach for the time being to handle North Korea. It should address North Korea’s armed provocation with a strong military response. But in reality, a military response has limitations. So it’s necessary to create an environment in which North Korea will flinch from any attempt to show further aggression in any form. In that case, Seoul could pursue dialogue. If the government places too much emphasis on three-way cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S., North Korea, for its part, will seek to unite with China and Russia to recreate an old trilateral alliance. South Korea should strengthen its ties with all the involved countries, except North Korea.

Tension is still lingering on the West Sea and the public is worried about further possible aggression from the North. The government and the military must come up with comprehensive countermeasures that the public can fully trust, while the involved countries should stage an all-out diplomatic war to deter North Korea.



[Interview] Defector Opens Rice Cake Shop From early in the morning, Han Chang-gwon is busy receiving customers at a small rice cake shop that he opened on October 9 in Seokchon-dong in the Song-pa district, southeastern Seoul. Looking at the sign, “Yewon Rice Cake,” one may think it is an ordinary store selling rice cake. But for this former North Korean defector, it is not.

Before opening this rice cake shop, I ran a snack bar at the Garak Market and provided lunchboxes to neighbors in need, such as homeless people and North Korean expatriates, with the help of local churches. The market is in the process of redevelopment, so I couldn’t continue the lunch project any longer. I decided to run a rice cake shop instead, as I heard there is an increasing amount of surplus rice in South Korea. I have no experience of making rice cake, but it should be okay because I can learn how to make it and people around me promised to help me. So I opened the shop in October.

Seoul City selected “Yewon Rice Cake” as a would-be social enterprise with the purpose of offering jobs to the underprivileged. Six people working here, including North Korean newcomers, are entitled to a monthly subsidy of 900-thousand won from Seoul City. In principle, the subsidy is to be handed out to the employees for one year but could be extended by another year, depending on the prospects for the business. For North Korean defectors hoping to get stable jobs, this shop is like a welcome rain after a long drought. Part of the profits made here is also used to support newcomers from the North.

Some profits are given to the employees as salaries, and what remains is donated to alternative schools for North Korean teenage defectors as well as to needy families and elderly people through local churches. Few North Korean defectors ate rice cake in their home country due to the severe food shortages there. Every evening, we collect the remaining rice cake and give it to our North Korean expatriates for free.

The shop offers various kinds of rice cake, such as jeolpyeon, a flat rice cake with a flower pattern imprinted, a snow-white rice cake called baekseolgi and a nutritious rice cake made of glutinous rice with beans in it. It also receives large orders for wedding feasts and “ibaji,” a food gift for the groom’s family. Han says he was surprised to see rice cake-making machines and various kinds of rice cakes he had never experienced in North Korea.

North Korean people go to rice mills only on traditional holidays. But the mills mostly produce noodles, breads or corn flour cake. Here in South Korea, a variety of luxurious rice cakes are offered, and the automated rice cake-making machines can produce dozens of different kinds of rice cakes, which is unimaginable in North Korea.

Han graduated from medical school in the eastern coastal city of Hamheung in North Korea and worked as an Oriental medicine doctor. But he couldn’t succeed in his career try as he might due to his poor family background. Eventually, he defected to South Korea in 1994 to find a new life. He has since been working to promote the rights and interests of his fellow North Korean defectors. His medical career and a rice cake shop may sound an unlikely match, but he chose to open the shop in the belief that it would create jobs for North Korean newcomers. Currently, he serves as the representative of a coalition of 28 North Korean defectors’ groups. Han points out that the newcomers will inevitably fall behind in South Korean society if they aren’t given the tools to stand on their own.

North Korean defectors risked their lives to enter South Korea in search of freedom. They should live well in their second home. If they stick to their old North Korean habits, they can’t enjoy freedom in this competitive society. Most importantly, they must engage in economic activities. If not, they will find themselves expecting support from others all the time. They must earn their living on their own so they can use their money for something valuable.

Han believes the defectors’ successful resettlement in South Korean society will contribute to advancing the reunification of Korea. Here’s hoping he will carry out his meaningful work with vigor to realize his wishes in the near future.