was put into place that could have brought about peace and reconciliation. There was real hope in Korea.
However, all progress came to a halt in 2008 when the new South Korean President Lee announced in his inaugural speech his ‘get tough on North Korea policy’. He could just taste that North Korea would collapse, and South Korea could take control. That ended North Korea’s willingness to abide by the deal. Since then there have been no negotiations, and North Korea is again free to build bombs and test missiles. When national security is at stake it is clear sanctions don’t work.
From the past successes and failures, the ‘lesson’ that we must learn is that one cannot make an agreement and expect the other side to keep their part unless we also keep the spirit of the agreement.
Seventy years ago Korea was divided by the US and the Soviet Union without consulting any Koreans. Since division was unacceptable to Koreans north and south, both thought they could end the division by military force. But both learned that war was not the answer. Four million people died, and 70 percent of them were civilians. Thirty-six thousand US soldiers were killed. And the country was still left divided. Ten million family members were permanently separated. Both sides suffered oppression in the name of national security. Both sides must fear war and must use their national resources for defense.
South Korea spends as much on the military as the entire GNP of North Korea, and the Korean peninsula has become the most militarized place on earth. War is unthinkable! There was a provision in the 1953 Armistice that there should be negotiations for a peace treaty. We have ignored that requirement. Seven decades of military confrontation and sanctions have not made anyone safer or addressed our human rights concerns.
It is time for negotiations to end the Korean War. In order to be successful, the negotiations cannot start by demanding that North Korea end their nuclear weapons programme. Negotiations cannot be successful unless the economic and security concerns of all parties are taken into consideration.
This article has been excerpted from: ‘Time to end the Korean War: lessons from the past’.
Courtesy: Commonsdreams.org