No Daylight in Seoul’s ‘Sunshine Policy’

Kim Dae Jung’s government in South Korea is now attempting to formally finance the reunion of the two Koreas as part of its “sunshine policy,” an extension of monetary aid coupled with a lessening and overlooking of traditional political tensions toward North Korea.

The “sunshine policy” is receiving mixed reactions in the South: hailed as a sound approach to helping starving people and denigrated as a cynical attempt to solve a bitter and complex diplomatic problem by throwing money at it. I follow the latter view.

Feeding starving people is good; however, it may be impossible do so in the pristine atmosphere President Kim seems to be striving for. South Korean aid has been pouring in to the North, while North Korea has been continuing apace with aggressive military reconnaissance and weapons exercises. However logical it may seem to separate politics and humanitarian concerns, this may be impossible. In North Korea, there is only politics.

It also will be necessary to deal with North Korea’s only real politician, Great Comrade Kim Jong Il. There will be no deals without his blessing. Although the desperate need of the North Korean people is nudging South Korea toward more liberal aid policies, North Korea’s leader seems oblivious to the dire straits of his people.

Despite everything, North Koreans still revere Kim Jong Il. He and his government are free to continue in their paranoid policies and are quite willing to be paid for them. For example, Kim Jong Il has demanded millions of dollars from the United States, ostensibly to compensate North Korea for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team’s visit to the suspected nuclear weapon development site. There are many examples of how the “sunshine policy” backfires in the face of North Korean hard-line policies. In dealing with the North Korean extremism over the years, South Korea has recreated itself into the economic and philosophical antithesis of North Korea. Its belief in capitalism is total, to the point where its leaders apparently believe that money can solve any inter-Korean relations obstacle. But 2 million people are unemployed now in South Korea, and another 2 million are expected to be out of work by the end of the year.

Now there is talk that the South Korean government may set up an institutionalized fee system to pay North Korea for cross-border family reunions. Such a system would set a bad precedent because it would financially reward the North for refusing to allow families to freely search and reunite. Further, it would limit the reunification of families to those who could afford it.

Another misguided plan afoot would formalize a years-old informal arrangement whereby North Korea receives $3,000 to $10,000 per family from the South Korean government to allow families to be brought together in the Manchurian cities that form a trade zone between North Korea and China. There is a great deal of opposition to this proposal. The way they are structured now, legalizing these reunions would be akin to a allowing a special zone of legalized gambling or prostitution in the United States.

Despite these bad ideas, a policy to speedily reunite separated families members is a must. How to do it is the question.

More international pressure would help. Most separated families have not even been allowed to exchange a postcard over the last 50 years. No letters, no telephone calls. The United Nations continues to take no stand on this.

There are fairer, less controversial ways to fuel the North Korean economy through tourism. For more than 50 years, the demilitarized zone has been strictly off limits, a wilderness that stretches 155 miles from coast to coast, along the final battle line of the Korean War. It is the last Cold War scar in the world. As such, it deserves to be designated as a living monument. By charging admission to this area, the North would have one dignified and noncontroversial way to pump hard currency into its economy.

The international community should encourage policies that reflect the simple but novel truth that there are certain things money cannot buy.

Finally, the reunification of families should move ahead, propelled by pressure from the international community. All Koreans, North and South, know in their hearts that a unified family cannot be bought.