South Korean President Park Geun-hye is reported to have asked China’s President Xi Jinping whether there was a plan for China to annex North Korea as the fourth province of the Northeast (Dongbei) in the event of North Korea’s governance structure completely breaking down. Xi is said to have answered no.
Presumably, the new leaders of the respective countries had vetted this question-answer prior to their summit in Beijing in June 2013. Nevertheless, it was a loaded question, and it had to have caused a stir among policy wonks in Beijing.
Park’s question directly concerns her initiative to unify the two Koreas under the leadership of South Korea. She has sought consensus among neighboring countries, and appears to have persuaded Xi, Putin and Obama that Korean unification under the South Korean leadership would be good for the region.
I asked the same question to the late Hwang Jang-yop, the highest official ever to defect from North Korea and former president of Kim Il-sung University. Hwang said, “China is not interested in inheriting the load of problems associated with North Korea. Why would China want to deal with the starvation issue, the energy shortage issue, broken infrastructure and so forth? China has enough problems already.”
In that light, Park found an enthusiastic supporter in Xi for her unification initiative. Xi now is a partner in dealing with North Korean issues. He can pursue his own interests without the headaches. China has long sought to economically develop its Northeast region, formerly known as Manchuria, encompassing the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
Though rich in minerals and agriculture, the lack of ports in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces has hampered their development over the years. China has found its needed ports in North Korea and made a long term agreement to develop Rajin port with its eyes on becoming the main player in trading in the Far East, as well as improving its domestic flow of goods between Dongbei and southern China.
Accordingly, China’s interest in the strategic port of Rajin is economic in nature, vis-a-vis an outright annexation scheme. So, when Park proposed her unification initiative to Xi, he seems to have welcomed her idea with open arms. The truth is, Park’s question to Xi has been on the minds of many South Koreans because of North Korea’s symbiotic relationship with China. Whether or not Xi satisfied the wondering minds in South Korea remains to be seen, but Park has been steadfast in her unification drive.
Her recent statement containing the words “unification bonanza” is no doubt intended to appeal to the young people of South Korea, whose support for unification has been lukewarm at best. Time will tell if Park’s unification initiative catches, but she has launched an outreach program to convince the young.
In late February, South-North Korean family reunions took place at Mount Geumgangsan resort between long-lost kin, who had had no contact since the Korean War (1950-1953). For 60 years, they and millions of other separated family members have dreamed of the unification of the two Koreas. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters saw each other for the first time in 60 years, and they parted ways again after two days. They returned to their respective homes in the North and the South, never knowing when they would see each other again. They can only hope for unification. They know that is the only way they can see each other again. Some resort to prayers. All of them shed tears. How many tears will have to fall before they get their wish?
For this reason alone, President Park has sufficient motivation for her unification initiative. She will need plenty of domestic and international support from all sides to make this dream a reality. For the first time in decades, I sense a glimmer of genuine hope.
By John Cha
John Cha lives and writes in Oakland, California. He has written several volumes of biographies about Korean and American leaders and is an award-winning translator of Korean literature into English. ― Ed.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
