INDIA-KOREA - Asia-Pacific Business and Technology Report

Peace Building on the
Korean Peninsula:
A Bigger Role for India?
By Lakhvinder Singh
Dr. Jae Kyu Park is
President of Kyungnam
University, former
Minister of Unification, and
former Chairman of the
National Security Council
(NSC) of the Republic of
Korea. He currently serves as a
presidential advisor on Korean
unification affairs and as a
member of the Presidential
Committee on Social Cohesion.
He played an instrumental role as the architect
of the historic first-ever inter-Korean
summit of June 2000. President Park has
served as the chairman of the Korean University
Presidents Association (2001–2004),
ISANG YUN Peace Foundation (2005–2009),
and Northeast Asian Forum of University
Presidents (2003–2011), among other associations.
He also served as President of the
University of North Korean Studies (2005–
2009). He currently serves as a presidential
advisor on Korean unification affairs and
as a member of the Presidential Committee
on Social Cohesion. He has received numerous
honors and awards, including the prestigious
Special Prize of the Jury (for Conflict
Prevention) from the Chirac Foundation of
France in 2009. In an exclusive interview
in downtown Seoul with Dr. Lakhvinder
Singh, managing editor of Asia-Pacific
Business and Technology Report,
Dr. Park discusses the situation
on the Korean Peninsula,
the growing India-
Korea ties, and a possible
future role for India in
peace building between
the two Koreas. Below
are excerpts of the
interview.
Dr. Jae Kyu Park
Q
a &
Since you are well-known as
an expert on North Korea,
we would like to begin with
some questions on this topic.
Following the death of North
Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il, the
reins of power in North Korea
have been handed over to his
third son, Kim Jong Un. Is the
third son really in charge in the
North or is there much more to
it than what is seen?
As you may remember, North Korea
held its third delegates meeting of the
Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) on September
28, 2010. Since this meeting, Kim
Jong Un’s succession in North Korea has
been firmly set. No organization or individual
can challenge his authority. From
September 2010 to December 2011, when
Kim Jong Il died, Kim Jong Un’s leadership
succession had been successfully put forward,
with no anti-Kim Jong Un factions
or persons within the elite having appeared
knowingly.
As you may know, the key organizations
of control in North Korea are the
Workers’ Party (of Korea), the military,
and the State Security Agency. These organizations
are under Kim Jong Un’s tight
control. The WPK 4th Party Conference
was recently held on April 11, 2012, where
Kim Jong Un was appointed as First Secretary
of the Party. In this position, Kim
Jong Un is officially the leading official of
the WPK Central Committee’s Secretariat.
Days later, the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly
(SPA) convened its fifth session.
This meeting is essentially North Korea’s
unicameral legislature’s annual session. At
this meeting, Kim Jong Un was appointed
to the new position of First Chairman of
the National Defense Commission (NDC).
His deceased father was given the title of
Eternal NDC Chairman. So it seems clear
that Kim Jong Un, with these official designations,
has complete authority over the
key organizations of rule.
With Kim’s youth and
inexperience, surely there
must be others in North Korea
assisting him as leader. Who are
those people?
Well, one key person has been Jang
Song Thaek. He is now the Director of the
Administration Department of the WPK
and a Vice-Chairman of the NDC—both
positions of some authority. Since September
2010, Jang has mentored Kim Jong Un,
paying specific attention to the economy
by looking for foreign investment. He has
also paid more attention to the remodeling
of the city of Pyongyang. Jang seems
to be refraining from advising the young
leader on matters of military and security,
as those are not his domain. That means
that military and security matters are under
Kim Jong Un’s control.
Aside from Jang Song Thaek, there are
other people who appear to be senior mentors
to Kim Jong Un. In my view, there are
about seven others who are most prominent.
They are as follows: Kim Yong Nam,
who is President of the Presidium of the
SPA; Kim Kyong Hui, sister of Kim Jong Il
and recently promoted as Secretary of the
Central Committee of the WPK; Choe Ryong
Hae, now Director of the General Political
Bureau of the Korean People’s Army
11
www.biztechreport.com
(KPA); Ri Yong Ho, the Chief of the General
Staff of the KPA; Kim Jong Gak, who was
recently appointed as Minister of the People’s
Armed Forces; Kim Won Hong, who
is Minister of State Security; and longtime
foreign policy hand of Kim Jong Il, Kang
Sok Ju, who is currently the Vice Premier
of the DPRK government, overseeing foreign
affairs.
With these senior mentors, there is no
confusion or turmoil in North Korea. For
the next few years, they will buttress Kim
Jong Un’s leadership.
Is there a possibility of a
bottom-up people’s revolution
taking place in North Korea,
as we’ve seen in the Middle
East with the Arab People’s
Revolution?
Such seems extremely unlikely. The
North Korean government does not allow
the North Korean people to talk about
what’s been happening in Egypt, Libya,
and elsewhere. There is no public discussion
on the people’s revolutions in the
Middle East. Almost no information on
these revolutions reaches the ears of the
North Korean public. There is no domestic
communication on the events or international
information flow that reaches the
people. Overseas diplomats that return
to Pyongyang keep silent. North Korean
business travelers who travel back and
forth across the border are monitored and
checked. The government still exercises
tight control over the population, and will
not tolerate any discussion of the issue or
anti-government movement.
In addition, Pyongyang and Beijing are
of the same mind on this: a people’s revo-