The South Korean part of the trip was pretty interesting.
We met with may professors, members of think-tanks and members of foundations working in international relations and peace. Of course the seminars were geared towards the two Koreas, and more specifically towards the situation with North Korea.
How North Korea is using fear, uncertainty and doubt while threatening the world to get what it wants. The fact is that the leaders know that they would lose a war, but also that they could cause pretty heavy damage before going out. They therefore have no interest in starting a war, but have interest (wanting more coverage, to be taken seriously, to get economic concessions) in keeping up the rhetoric.
The regime also keeps up the talk of the threat from the USA, with its bases in Japan and South Korea, but how much of it is genuinely felt and how much of it is based on the need to justify the regime is unclear.
Lets remember that the Koreas having been divided by external powers without the consent of its people,and the Kim regime being a direct consequence of Russia and China's involvement. however, the fact is that even if there were to be reunification, it would most likely spell a fiasco. North Koreans are proud and see themselves as the true Koreans, the South having sold themselves out to America. many would prefer to defect to China than to have to integrate South Korea and adopt its modern culture. A reunification would need to feed and give work to 24 million penniless North Koreans, most of which have no skills usable in South Korea's modern society. The economic gap between East and West Germany was not as large as the one between north and South Korea, and there are still inequalities to this day, a reunification between the two Koreas would therefore be extremely hard, which makes it, unfortunately, unenviable by most parties.
South Koreans have also become used to the threat of the north. most do not realize that they are still at war, as only an armistice was ever signed. The fact that Seoul could be razed in 30 minutes also eludes most of them in their everyday lives. by contrast, north Koreans are very much aware that they are still at war. They are also aware of the sanctions they are suffering from. Most of the sanctions are understandable, such as the sanctions on military goods and even luxury goods, as punishment for misdeeds. However, it becomes harder to justify refusing to sell tractors to North Korea, that has been having food problems since 1994, on the basis of which they could potentially be used as missile-carriers.
In order to understand North Korea's stubbornness, one must understand the prism by which they see the world:
1. They are very much aware that they are in a constant state of war and of the US threat and they feel they constantly have to ramp up their army and defenses as well as never show a sign of weakness, lest they be attacked. They see a strong army as the only thing preventing a US attack on them.This justifies squashing any dissension and funneling resources away from other sectors towards the army. it is also used to justify the regime.
2. They feel that they are in constant competition with south Korea. Their leaders being infallible, they blame the South Koreans selling themselves out to the US, as well as a concerted effort by the US and the UN to put up embargoes and sanctions for their economic troubles.
The feelings of being unjustly victimized and standing alone against the world are therefore strong and they want good and efficient farming, but they feel that a strong army and weapons are a prerequisite to being able to do so, as the second they show weakness, they will get invaded. Like Iraq or Libya.
...I could talk about it at length, but suffice to say the conferences in Seoul were interesting.
We stayed at a modern Youth Hostel in the heart of Seoul.
Having arrived two days early, I visited Gangnam district, and biked around Seoul a bit.
In between seminars, we had a bit of time and we ended up visiting the DMZ (Demilitarized zone). It was a mix of touristy (with coin binoculars and souvenir shops), sad (Wall with messages from separated families, a train station awaiting reunification in order to go anywhere) and scary (an abandoned tunnel dug by North Korea in order to invade South Korea.. only a few have been discovered.. How many more are there?)
We also visited the Korean War museum. (Lets just say the story is slightly different from the North version I was going to hear few days from then).
After the last seminar, we headed to Incheon port to take the ferry to Dandong, China, and from there, to north Korea.
..But more on that tomorrow....
