It happened again.
North Korea threatened to take military action Sunday, blasting the South Korean defense minister for his remarks on a preemptive strike against the North in the case of an imminent nuclear threat.
Last week, Minister Kim Tae-young said in a defense forum here that Seoul would have to undertake an immediate appropiate action if the North shows a clear sign of attacking with nuclear weapons.
In a statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency that was commented as an open declaration of war
It continued that Pyongyang may take prompt and decisive military action.
The warning came two days after the North proposed having military talks to discuss telecommunication, customs and immigration issues regarding the joint Kaeseong Industrial Complex in the North.
A senior official of the South's unification ministry said, asking to remain anonymous, that the government will suggest holding the meeting after Feb. 1 when working-level inter-Korean talks over the operation of the industrial park take place. (see more @ Korea Times online).
History of a conflict between North and South Korea is long and complicated and this post is by no means attempting to be a handbook on that.
Yet the Kaeseong Industrial Complex is a good area to study relations between two Korean states.
Approximately 15 South Korean companies employ more than 40 000 workers from North Korea with perspective to employ 26 000 as soon as possible. Everything is supported from Seoul, facilities, constructions, energy and transportation system together with money to pay for wages. By 2012 the Complex is said to employ approximately 725 000 North Korean citizens and generate more than $500 million of income for North Korean Economy.
North Korea supports physical power of homo sapiens. Because in this communist heaven in the Earth nothing else exists. There are hardly any cars, electricity is only in Phoenyang and even there sometimes windows are dark in the evening.
In her "Access to evil" Ewa Ewart shows Northern Korea as described above. Guarded 24/7 by her silent security angels dared to ask why she could not see anything apart from the authorities in Phoenyang scheduled for her to see. Without any possibility to shoot by hidden camera she still saw a lot of trush hidden so eagerly under the carpet.
Will the situation between two Korean states change, will they be unified? Despite that there is a will to unify the countries shown by South Korean authorities and intellectuals, the very process of it is a long way to go and full of obstacles.
One of them is a burden which would be caused by joining undeveloped impoverished sister country to the 21st century economy. A demand for jobs, wages and social securities so typical in the fresh post communist countries would weaken South Korean economy for a long time, just like it slowed down Germany after unification 20 years ago.
Another issue is South Korean society itself and its psychological attitude. Refugees from North even now are not considered members of community and live in isolation. They are lucky if they run restaurants or other businesses, but most often they are at mercy of church communities which help to organize their escapes. But, as I have mentioned, in the society they are not very welcome.
However the Ossie and Wessie in Germany still distrust each other and tend to pay attention to the West or East German origin of a person, the individualistic trait in Western mental construct makes it easier and in the current generation this will not be important anymore.
But the community and group identification in confucianist society like South Korean will not make the adaptation of North Koreans easier, especially of those who do not have families in south from DMZ.
Another possible scenario and more likely to happen is North Korean regime growing only in power due to economic profits from such projects like special industrial zones. Foreign investment in China had only strengthened the current system which builds huge nuclear arsenal with the very same dollars earned on trading their working power for Western corporate investment. The very same scenario is equally possible in North Korea.
On the contrary Soviet State collapsed due to central planned economy of shortages, when food was difficult to get and basic goods hard to achieve, and in such condition social devotion to the Party and system gradually faded. What would happen if instead of fierce arms competition and trade embargo Ronald Reagan decided to economically support Soviet Union...?
There is a chance, yet slight, that economic improvement will empower North Koreans enough to get rid of the regime on their own. With networking, internet access and some level of economic prosperity transformation might happen, like it happens in Vietnam.
That is all for now. Next post is coming soon.
