North and South Korea recently held mid-level military talks focused on family unifications at the Peace Village on the 32nd Parallel in an attempt to get something non-kinetic moving between the divided peninsula’s governments.
Reuters quoted a unification ministry official in Seoul as saying that the talks had collapsed and that a date had not been set for the next meeting.
South Korean media reports that North Korea had refused Seoul’s demand to apologise for the shelling of Yeonpyeong island in November, and for the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship, last March.
North Korea says it was not involved in the Cheonan sinking, and that it was provoked into attacking Yeonpyeong after the South fired artillery rounds into its waters during a drill…
The North, concerned about the effects of international sanctions and a near-halt to trade with its neighbour, has recently pushed for talks between the Red Cross agencies on the resumption of meetings between separated families.
“We conveyed our agreement to hold the Red Cross talks,” said Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman for South Korea’s unification ministry. “The government shared the view on the urgency and importance of humanitarian issues, including the reunions of separated families.”
The issue just wasn’t urgent enough to include such humanitarian issues as the grief of families of 46 South Korean sailors killed aboard the Cheonan.
Really, you have to blame the south for this: If they had only talked about the things that the north wanted to talk about – easing sanctions, food aid, jobs at Kaesong, tourism, etc – things would have worked out fine. But no, the south had to go and bring ship sinkings and island shellings into the picture.
I agree. The gall that the south has. I still can’t believe they waited until they were surrounded at Pusan to fight back. The gall!
It’s all a “dialogue of the deaf”/”ships passing in the night” parallel universe sort of thing. Matter, meet anti-matter. Oh, I almost forgot the “oil & water” bit as well. And the truly sad thing is, in the case of these two, they ALL apply.
How dare you point to my transgressions against you when I’m demanding a handout from you! Where’s your sense of humanity?
Really, you have to blame the south for this: If they had only
talked about the things that the north wanted to talk about – easing sanctions, food aid, jobs at Kaesong, tourism, etcdemanded an apology and responded with air strikes and artillery fire when fired upon – things would have worked out fine. But no, the south had togo and bring ship sinkings and island shellingslisten to the United States and back down and make no real comment for fear of “provoking” some kind of adversarial response from the North Korean paper tiger into the picture.FIFY
Honestly, does anyone remember when the Soviet Union collapsed? We used to think they were ten feet tall and bulletproof, and when their government fell, we came to realize they were a sham, an empty shell, and a paper tiger. WE were ten feet tall and bulletproof. And while we may not be bulletproof today, simply allowing South Korea to respond militarily to these idiotic and tyrannical provocations with force is not completely out of the realm of practical, is it? Hit when they bite, and they will never bite again. The reason these attacks continue is because no one responds with anything stronger than sitting the bad child Nork in a chair with one short leg, and a strongly worded letter to his lawyer. (Bet there are tons of words with seven or eight undecipherable syllables too).
Kick their asses and quit cowering in fear from a country, and, yes, a military, that is not one tenth the capability of the South Korean forces. Like a rotten door, the first blow will bring the door crashing down and South Korea is victorious and can begin cleaning up the neighbors they so frequently claim they have sympathy for and send so much aid to.
Subsunk
Ultimately, “There can be only ONE!”
Greetings:
For me the North-South Korean relationship is like when your best buddy is in love with an evil woman. There is nothing that you can really say or do except to try to wait out the agony.
It took Korea a long time to unite, something I see reflected in the historical dramas aired by the (South) Korean Broadcasting System on its KBS World channel. The disruptions of the twentieth century continue to weigh heavily on an emotional level. I think the South’s vulnerability is also increased by its Confucian-type culture where familial separations are seen as a type of failure.
As glad as I am to see the South stiffening, I can’t help but think that it’s not much more than a veneer, how thick, even they probably don’t know, over the underlying emotions of the separation issue.
The South Koreans, somewhat on the other hand, seem quite accepting of their military draft. Even their celebrities do their service with a positive attitude. And the few who don’t, are publicly castigated.
“And the few who don’t, are publicly castigated.”
Only two letters away from the more effective policy.
I hope the stiffening remains. If we and the ROK had exacted a serious penalty for everyone of ours they killed, they wouldn’t be doing it anymore.
The best think ROK can do is to ignore all the NORK’s blather and simply tell them that acting like a recalcitrant 6 yo will not avail them any longer. Cut off all air and industrial ties and tell them the talkers will be at Panmunjom to talk any time they are ready to be serious. If they show and start more blather, just walk out with a word of the shoulder to come back when they are serious. They’ll get the message.
The North Vietnamese played the same kind of games with us in Paris – size and placement of the table, ad nauseum, and Kissinger let them get away with it. Kissinger should have told them that his reply would be over Hanoi that night.
Weak people normally betray those they supposedly protect. Kissinger did it with the ARVN, and the ROK have done their own people that way too. Being strong has a way of winning. Being weak, as the ROK have done gets them what they have.
I have no problem with the ROK guys waving the bloody shirt at the Norks, hell, thwack them across the face with it.