South Korean President Lee Myung-bak went to China on January 9th to begin a three-day state visit and hold a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Marking the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries this year, Lee’s China visit is the sixth of its kind since he took office. Also, it is Lee’s second state visit to China, following the first one in May 2008. The latest summit came at a critical time, as involved countries find it increasingly important to cooperate strategically and manage the security on the Korean Peninsula after the death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Here’s Professor Kang Jun-young of the Chinese Language Department at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies to explain the implications of the summit.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China, the two summits shared the view on the need for reviewing the progress in bilateral relations and discussing ways to develop them further. But the key issue would be stability in North Korea and on the Korean Peninsula after the death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Undoubtedly topping the summit’s agenda was stability in the post-Kim Jong-il regime in North Korea. Lee and Hu discussed regional security throughout their 30-minute summit, reflecting the graveness of this issue. The two leaders agreed to cooperate to achieve the goal of denuclearization, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. In a joint press statement, China reiterated its previous position that it would support the peaceful unification of Korea. Notably, Hu made a pledge that Beijing would play a role in helping South and North Korea improve their relations through dialogue and initiate a process for reconciliation and cooperation. Hu also praised the calm and composed attitude South Korea has shown in its recent North Korea policy. Professor Kang interprets Hu’s remarks as follows.

Both Lee and Hu see eye to eye on the need for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea and China are greatly interested in the stable management of North Korea and the facilitation of North Korea’s soft landing after Kim Jong-il’s death. China frowns upon the possibility of North Korea’s collapse or unification through South Korea’s absorption of its northern neighbor. Hu said South Korea did not fuss about the former North Korean leader’s death but showed a calm and composed attitude, even though North Korea kept criticizing the South. I think China expressed relief that Seoul and Beijing have formed a consensus on the need for stabilizing North Korea.

But diplomatic experts say it is very unlikely that the South Korea-China summit will actually lead to their coordinated policy toward North Korea right away. That is because China’s close consultation with South Korea could arouse a sense of crisis in North Korea, which forms the “blood alliance” with China.

From a long-term perspective, it is very hard for China to move in sync with South Korea when dealing with the North Korean regime or its future. Beijing, for its part, doesn’t feel the need to offset its influence on North Korea at all. On the contrary, now is a good time to secure a stronger influence over Pyongyang. So, it’s hard to expect China will cooperate with South Korea when it comes to North Korean issues. South Korea, too, has differing opinions about the way China handles North Korea. Seoul may disagree with Beijing, if China continues defending North Korea and acting as a settler even when North Korea causes problems, resulting in diplomatic friction between neighboring countries. Conflict between South Korea and China may arise at any time, surrounding security and military involving North Korea. In brief, it will be hard for Seoul and Beijing to work together.

Also, South Korea and China have differing views on the resumption of the six-party nuclear talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. The two countries do agree on the need for resuming the multilateral negotiations for the sake of stability in regional diplomacy. But the recent summit revealed that there was a subtle difference between the two sides in ways to restart the talks. Lee expressed hope that involved countries would resume dialogue only after the preconditions for the six-party talks were met, while Hu reportedly proposed that involved countries unite to create conditions for reconvening the six-party talks.

As the host country of the six-party talks, China hopes to address the nuclear issue within a multilateral frame, maintaining the momentum of the six-party talks. On the other hand, South Korea continues to question the usefulness of the negotiations. What’s the use of the six-party talks, if North Korea continued to develop nuclear weapons and became a nuclear power even while participating in the six-party talks? China says it will keep the discussions going in order to form the conditions for resuming the six-party talks. But the South Korean president said he hoped to see the resumption of the talks after the preconditions were met. This indicates wide difference of opinion. South Korea delivered China a clear message that it would be hard to continue the process in which North Korea seeks to buy time and exploit the six-party talks while pursuing nuclear arms development.

Placed in different situations, South Korea and China each have their own views on how to perceive North Korea and how to approach Korean Peninsula issues. Noting this, experts say there is not sufficient trust between the two countries. South Korea and China formed a “strategic, cooperative partnership” in 2008, but there’s still distance between them in politics, diplomacy and security since the former is concerned about its relations with the U.S. and the latter is sensitive about its relations with North Korea. On a positive note, however, Seoul and Beijing have agreed to strengthen bilateral communication by facilitating a hotline between their foreign ministers. Following the South Korea-China summit, experts call for the two countries to promote strategic communication in a pragmatic way.

South Korea has suspected that China is up to something, and vice versa, since their conflict is mostly about North Korea-related issues. The biggest problem is the lack of mutual confidence between the two sides. They have few problems in the economic area, since it is dominated by the market mechanism. In diplomacy, however, South Korea thinks that China sides with Pyongyang excessively, which will have a negative influence on regional stability over the long term. China, on the other hand, suspects that South Korea and the U.S. will join forces to put too much pressure on North Korea. Unless South Korea and China iron out these thorny issues, it will be highly challenging for them to cooperate in politics, security and the military. It is most necessary to develop mutual communication and trust.

South Korea and China held their first summit since the emergence of the new Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea. The two countries should never forget their shared goal of cementing bilateral partnership through peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. We hope the latest summit will be a new starting point for the two sides to move toward a strategic, cooperative partnership, both in name and reality.


[Interview] JTS’ Campaign to Send Hand-Knitted Mufflers to N. Korean Children
On a weekday evening, people sitting in small groups of twos and threes are busy knitting at a building in the Seocho District, southern Seoul. Some men, who have never engaged in this kind of work before, are eager to learn to knit. With each stitch, hand-knitted mufflers begin to take shape. The heartfelt scarves will be delivered to 12-thousand children in orphanages and childcare centers in North Korea, under a campaign to send mufflers to North Korean children suffering from hunger and cold. The campaign is staged by the “Join Together Society,” or JTS, an international relief agency based in Seoul, which is committed to fighting global poverty, disease and illiteracy. Here’s a volunteer to share her opinion.

We’ve continued to provide aid to North Korea. I imagine it will be pretty hard for children to endure a particularly harsh winter this year without enough food. In cold weather, it makes you a lot warmer just wrapping a muffler around your neck. Media reports say wearing a muffler has the effect of raising the temperature by about 4 degrees Celsius. We hope these warm mufflers will help the North Korean children endure and overcome a long and cold winter. We planned this project in the hope of reminding many citizens once again of the need for unification of South and North Korea, while knitting mufflers together.

It’s rather bothersome to donate money, purchase knitting needles and balls of yarn, and knit mufflers for days with great effort. But more and more citizens have joined the campaign since it started in November last year. They have participated in this project with all their hearts at the thought of completing special mufflers, the only one of its kind in the world, and helping North Korean children stay warm in the cold winter. In addition to the muffler campaign, JTS has carried out various other humanitarian aid projects for North Korea for the last 16 years. In the mid-1990s, many North Korean people starved to death and chose to defect from their home country, due to continuous food shortages and disastrous floods that began in the early 1990s. After learning of the dire reality in North Korea, the organization began to stage a campaign of collecting one million signatures with the purpose of raising donations nationwide and calling for governmental-level aid programs for North Korea. In the initial stage, it provided the North with food and farming materials to help increase food production there and assisted in implementing health and medical projects. But the agency has recently focused on projects aimed at supporting North Korean children. JTS official Seo Dong-woo explains.

Until 2008, we conducted various aid programs related to children, farming, and health and medical care. As the situation in North Korea has worsened in recent years, we’ve been focusing more on projects to support children. From 1997 to 2005, we set up a food factory in Rason and provided 3 kilograms of food to 11-thousand children each in 110 kindergartens and childcare centers in the region every month. Since then, we have supplied food, daily necessities and teaching materials to orphanages, nursing homes and schools for disabled students across North Korea on a regular basis.

Private-level aid for North Korea isn’t entirely easy. Initially, the hand-knitted mufflers were to be shipped in Incheon and sent to Nampo Port in North Korea late last month. But the delivery was temporarily postponed due to the sudden death of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. As such, aid programs are often subject to unexpected circumstances. But JTS is preparing for new projects step by step, never giving up hope. Here again is Mr. Seo.

Everyone at JTS continues to carry out humanitarian programs, regardless of politics or ideology. We will extend a helping hand to whoever needs it. This year, we’ll continue to send food to the same North Korean orphanages, nursing homes and schools for disabled children nationwide regularly. Also, we’re considering providing daily necessities to citizens in the impoverished North. North Korea is hit by natural disasters such as floods almost every year. We’re making preparation in advance so we can provide relief aid to the North quickly in times of trouble.

JTS stresses that saving and helping North Korean children will ultimately contribute to preparing for the future of our own children, and of a unified Korea. Here’s to hoping South Koreans’ visits and aid to North Korea restart as early as possible so the warm mufflers, with South Korean people’s love woven into each stitch, will be delivered to North Korean children.