January 20, 2003
Japanese broadcasts of North Korea-related news, particularly in terms of abduction and normalization-related issues, have increasingly become a concern for people in South Korea. Broadcasted simultaneously in Seoul, they have ironically become a big attraction in South Korea.
Why do South Koreans feel so involved in developments not directly related to themselves, but rather to their neighbor, North Korea? The main reason perhaps, in many ways, is because South Koreans consider the conflict between Japan and North Korea as their own and do not view themselves as outsiders.
In coming to terms with developments in North Korea, South Koreans face two complicated issues. The first relates to the terms of settlement of the abduction problem. Like Japan, South Korea considers itself too to be a victim of past North Korean kidnappings. According to a report issued by the North Korea Kidnap Victims Assistance Council, since the Korean War truce of 1953, there may have been up to 3,790 South Korean citizens kidnapped by the North; and 487 individuals, accounting for 13% of total victims, still remain in North Korea. Victims are mainly fishermen kidnapped at sea, but also include pilots, soldiers, high school students, and even students while overseas in Europe.
As a result of Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang in September 2002, the North Korean kidnapping issue has become an area of great concern for ordinary South Koreans. The key South Korean criticism against its own government relates to why it failed to officially integrate the issue of North Korean kidnappings within the North-South Agreement, while the Japanese government has demanded and obtained an official apology for the victims from the North Koreans. Indeed a strong aversion has emerged domestically against the incumbent Kim Dae Jung Administration on the principle of its having avoided tackling the kidnapping issue. In turn, this has complicated North-South relations, based as it is on the Sunshine Policy of the South Korean government.
Under pressure from public criticism, the South Korean government did conduct meetings with victim families in October, and presented their objections to the North Korean government. A demand was also presented for the return of the victims during Red Cross Talks in November. The response from North Korea, however, was ignorance and a blunt answer that there was no reason to talk about something that did not exist. The South Korean public, however, has continued to stay heavily engaged in the issue and has kept tracking the movement of the five surviving Japanese victims. The South Koreans are praying for the victims' earliest return home and for their families.
The second complicated issue relates to the normalization negotiations now in progress. Compared to Japan's 36-year colonization of Korea and the suffering that it inflicted, North Korean kidnappings of Japanese citizens constitute a relatively minor hardship. From the nationalist standpoint, particularly among those in their teens and up till the age of 30, and also seniors in their 60s and above, the progress of normalization over the past 65-year period between Japan and South Korea can be held up as a point of reference. Surprisingly, most South Koreans view the normalization of Japan-South Korea ties with a considerable degree of shame. Some extremists even go so far as to contend that the Japan- South Korea agreement is wholly unilateral and unfair.
According to this viewpoint, South Koreans understand the North Korean position, which continues to demand official compensation for Japan's colonial rule. Japan has already extended economic assistance in return for South Korea to relinquish its claims. But this has blurred issues of historical responsibility and previous Japanese justifications for colonization of the peninsula. For Koreans, both North and South, it is difficult to accept this notion. Hence South Koreans look at the direction of the normalization negotiations with mixed feelings; sympathizing with Japan's situation while understanding North Korea's position to a certain degree as well.
Under these conditions then, South Koreans cannot help but have concerns regarding the aftermath of the abductions and the deadlock in Japan-North Korea negotiations. Undeniably, North Korea is an unpredictable nation and its statements related to abductions cannot be trusted. Yet the complication remains that the massive outpouring of anger from Japan, related to the abductions, may indeed misguide people's judgment about the distinction drawn between the North Korean elites grouped around Kim Jong-il, and ordinary North Korean people. South Koreans are concerned that Japan might have started to view everything in North Korea as evil.
This biased perception also casts doubt on the underlying relevance of normalization between Japan and North Korea. What indeed is the sense of normalizing ties with an evil regime that still continues to exhibit bad behavior? Clearly, Kim Jong-il has been the primary reason that the existing conflicts have been precipitated. It is worthy to keep in mind that the citizens of North Korea and Japan, as well as those who were kidnapped, are all victims of his regime's brutal political repression.
Author, Michael Yoo
Michael Yoo
Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
Editor-in-Chief, Ichiro Araki
Director of Research
Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
e-mail: araki-ichiro@rieti.go.jp
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The opinions expressed or implied in this paper are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), or of the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
