Shifting from "Security" to "Peace" in Korea webinar with Dr. Han S Park

Shifting from "Security" to "Peace" in Korea webinar with Dr. Han S Park

Women Cross DMZ

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Why have the US and North Korea been at war for 70 years? How do we get to peace? What makes us truly secure? 

On May 21, 2020,  the Korea Peace Network, Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network, Peace Treaty Now, Re’Generation Movement, and Women Cross DMZ hosted a webinar with Dr. Han S Park on the need for a radical shift toward a peace paradigm in Korea.

Han S Park is University Professor Emeritus of International Affairs and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia. Dr. Park has visited North Korea more than 50 times since 1981 to further efforts for diplomacy and peacemaking. He was instrumental in President Jimmy Carter’s visit to North Korea in 1994 to avert military confrontation and President Bill Clinton’s visit to Pyongyang to free detained American journalists in 2009.

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Introduction

so welcome my name is Greyjoy I am a co-founder of regeneration

movement and a member of Georgia Korea peace campaign today's event is brought

to you by Korea peace network Korea peace now peace treaty now regeneration

women and woman cross dmz um we are so

glad to see you um virtually but first would you please on the chat box tell us

which city or state or country you are

logging in from um you should able to UM

use the chat room on the below of your page I see person from Boston Los

Angeles New York hello checking in from San Francisco Wow

amazing amazing thank you so much for joining us today while Kobe 19 has us

quarantined at our homes I think it's wonderful to see that ironically it is

also opening the doors for us to be ever more connected um digitally I also want

to mention that this webinar is being recorded and will be made available after the event ok um one last

housekeeping item also while listening to Professor Park you can write in your

questions on the Q&A box down below and

not this time at the chat box so there are two different rooms down below so

make sure you put your questions in the - in a box and dr. Park will go over

your questions later on okay without further ado I would like to

introduce our speakers professor Han Park Han Park is the University

professor emeritus at the University of Georgia and the founding director of the

center for the study of global issues he has a bachelor's degree from Seoul

National University masters from American University and PhD from University of Minnesota she was born in

China Manchuria to Korean immigrant parents and lived there until the end of

the World War two as a child he saw the brutality caused

by the conflict between Chiang kai-shek a Mazel Tov when dr. Park and his family

moved to Korea dr. Park was caught in the middle of the Korean War these

experiences he had as a child has engraved a deep yearning for peace

and also he dedicated his life for the cause of peace especially for that of

his home country of Korea he has visited North Korea more than 50 times since

1981 it worked tirelessly to persuade government officials to improve

relations with the US and to resolve the nuclear crisis he was instrumental to

President Jimmy Carter's visit to North Korea in 1994 to avert a military

confrontation and presented Bill Clinton's visit to Pyongyang to free

detained American journalists in 2009 for these efforts he had been recognized

as the thirteenth recipient of Gandhi King Ikeda community builders prize in

2010 the alerts previous recipients included Nelson Mandela Mikhail

Gorbachev and Desmond Tutu so dr. Park

has had a very distinguished career but in a nutshell dr. Park is a peacemaker

that's why we're so excited to have him to hear his insights on peace in the

Korean Peninsula today without further ado um Oh before hands OH I would like

to also introduce dr. Uslan Tong who is the associate professor in electrical

engineering at Kennesaw University and an eject again professor at Georgia Tech

he is also a member of Georgia Korea peace campaign and currently chairs the

education committee at the national unification Advisory Council Atlanta

chapter so without further ado dr. Park and dr. Chung the floor is all yours

thank you very much professor Park for joining us today

Dr Han S Park

I heard that you were born in China and you went through gruesome Chinese a

civil war during your childhood and then all your families actually I came down

to South Korea but then you suffered a lot from Korean War to there and then

you've been thinking why people are killing each other and then you're

almost obsessed with the peace indeed it's been almost 70 years since the end

of Korean War but we're still suffering from we are not even getting closer to

make any peace agreement between North Korea and the United States so could you

share some of your wisdom why this is happening and then what we could do to

make a better situation it's not an easy question but I'll try

Three developments

70 years that has been appeared of cease

fire cease fire is supposed to be short but 7-0 years something wrong there

there must be darn good explanation for that I think I've got one there are

three developments that we can assign to this unusual phenomenon one the Cordova

after the Korean independence from Japan

Korea became divided by the Soviet Union

and United States at the 38th parallel followed by a long period of cold

war-era cold Oh as we all know was a direct confrontation between the Soviet

Union that is communism and liberal democracy of the United States and the

two Koreas divided Koreas became subsequently the forefront of these

dividing the world order that made unification impossible division lasted

as long as the World Order is polarized

during the Cold War era and then something happened

after the demise of second the Soviet

Union China became very formidable player in world politics immediately

China replaced the Soviet Union to counter the United States so you have us

Soviet tension replaced by us-china tension which is a very formidable today

so North Korea on the side of Communists South Korea on the side of the United

States they have maintained forced to maintain such a separation

death called WA after the Cold War the rise of China China when China was

independent when I was little there in China China was a very poor country

starving country military intelligible country because

Britain and Europeans occupied basically most China for 100 years 100

years of humiliation they call it so

because of that the emergence of new China was given great deal of attention

because China came with a great deal of potential

indeed today China is the second largest economy perhaps one of the leading

powers of the world basically we have China helping North Korea the United

States on the side of South Korea so China u.s. tension has been translated

into the tension on the Korean Peninsula northern South Korea between the mean

time ah the United States developed something

unusual something called the deep state America is not governed by elected

officials anymore governed by elements of deep state the deep state players are

military industry intelligence and

thirdly mass media when you hold control

over these these three entities in the United States you control the political

system political players are superficial so in this case very importantly

military industry became very formidable determinants of American foreign policy

military industry must sell weapons continuously there must be buyers or

us-made weapons South Korea came very

handy for that weapons ma market

so they're North Korea is sort of became

demonized became ridiculed by the United

States so that North Korea can provide the justification or the United States

to beef up its weapons component

so throughout cold war-era and and throughout the division of Korea Korean

systems have competed in in the area of countries and they accumulated weapons

of all kinds eventually North Korea accumulated the nuclear arsenal so this

is where we are so because of these developments we have never seen a

glimpse of any successful effort to reunify certainly to end the Army's

trees temporary ceasefire that is the question/answer okay so indeed it is

very insightful thought about the complex situations and in seemed like we

are all surrounded by the desire to have more military power but then the

question is once we have more military power more weapons then doesn't make us

more as safer and then does it do it actually would it give us the more

secure world would you a little bit elaborate about this from your concept

security were dime transition two key spirit I'm happy to

Security as a national objective

throughout the Cold War ii-era and post the Condor development up to today we

have seen security as a national objective for the United States or South

Korea for North Korea for China everyone worked for and pursued the

security security cannot provide us with

sivan security security is self-defeating when you have a weapons

weapons are to be used then you have a mutual fear suspicion and antagonism all

these things the kind of hostile culture will develop so here more weapons more

better weapons that desire developed

eventually North Korea decided to go for nuclear because in conventional weaponry

arms race you need a lot of money strong economic background which North Korea

didn't have so he was the rational decision to look for and to make nuclear

weapons because historically we learn that when you have a nuclear weapons

your security is not going to be threatened by any country any government

so North Korea pursued and eventually successful and all costing sacrifices

they develop these weapons but now all

these weapons will not give us any security will only give you such a fear

suspicion distrust

security is not there in pursuit of security because security is not what we

need what Korea needs we need a peace

peace is not the absence of conflict we

it's it's a mistaken notion that when you do not have a conflict you have

peace that's not the case we don't have peace even without conflict peace is the

presence of harmony rather than the absence of adversary or country presence

of harmony harmony as we know in musical

harmony requires diversity different

notes different instruments and so on diversity when you have a diversity you

have the potential of harmony without diversity harmony is not a

relevant concept even so it is some sort

of so Latian company to know that North

and South Korea are very diverse very different

but the difference can work for peace

now will not work for security but work for peace so with that how can we

compromise a harmonized North in South Korea in a way that the two systems will

not fight will be mutually supportive virtually accommodating and mutually

communicating and empathizing so there

we have the great potential for developing great peace

you see unlike a country peace unlike I

mean security peace comes in various sizes great peace and minimal peace when

you have a great diversity potentially we have great peace indeed Korean

Peninsula is prepared for great peace if people we understand and we look willing

to work for that so peace paradigm that's a harmonious I said but but

harmony requires not only depressants of diversity but also we have to know one

another we have to know South Koreans must know North Korea the way it is and

vice versa because of demonization because of misinterpretation each other

we don't know each other very well especially South Koreans and Americans

we are far from having a realistic and accurate picture of North Korea so we

have to work for that and then we need to have peace education and all these

specific steps we need to take but these

hopefully will have another another question regarding specific road maps

okay thank you very much professor Park indeed so you mentioned peace is harmony and we

Peace is harmony

can get peace out of diversity in norms different cultures and different norms

and different ideology but in in reality it still seems like really far away to

carry oil to execute the Peace in real life what are the core elements and if

you would like to love her a little bit more to make more peaceful world especially in respect to Korean a

relationship with you North Korea and also the United States

think about Orchestra think about the

art of creating harmony in music you

need to know one another so we have to put ourselves in other

people's shoes in other words South Koreans must be able to put their shoes in North Koreans life situations

our knowledge Americans in South Koreans about now North Korea is so pitiful so

unrealistic how many people know that North Korean North Korea

it's a socialist system they don't have a private ownership when it comes to

real estate buildings and so on South Koreans think they will go and purchase

a lot of land and become rich people it's not the case no land is for sale

there are a lot of things that Americans and South Koreans do not know anything

about North Korea we have to change that for that we have to have a good

education we have to have open mind dialogue with them not only that we have

to travel and receive North Koreans outside North Korea communication

transportation and education is that

much important so unification doesn't begin after the collapsible system or

out after unified Korea unification

campaign must begin right now when we are still divided we can try to

build what I call peace culture and unification culture

so correct knowledge and empathy being able to consider the world from North

Korea's point of view which is very oddly lacking in the United States and

in South Korea so if we did that

unification movement begins right now here don't wait until the country

politically unified so that's the not really roadmap roadmap but it's so

important to have a transition model a period where this

divided two regimes or two states may

interact and become more similar for

that we need to have a mediation entity that is you know as a president Kim

dae-jung and chairman Kim jong-il agreed

on June 15 19 2010 it is so important

that we prepare to accept our differences accommodate differences and

we work with the differences so that we

have written in prints but we're not practicing that at all so we have to

travel we have to let North Koreans a travel out and get to know one another

in order to communicate and understand them you don't have to agree with them I

visit North Korea so many times I did not agree everything I hear and I ever

everything I I learned certainly but I understood where they're coming from if

you have understanding that is a good base of communication and peace without

understanding peace you will not have understanding you don't have to agree

understanding sometimes you hate but at least you accept as being the case on

the other side so that is a basically peace education

piece culture and peace attitudes that

we have to cultivate in our socialization education processes

okay indeed thank you very much a professor part for your wisdom so to

Demonization of North Korea

make more peaceful relationship I guess the core element as you mentioned before

is a dialogue between two entities and then understanding each other so in

terms of demons the demonization of North Korea what do you actually take on

that what the opinion on that demonization of North Korea do we see them as they are what is your opinion on

that who started demonization I think the United States started demonizing I'm a

Christian but misguided Christianity will give us a sense of two worlds

Heaven and Hell right and wrong chosen

people and discarded people all these dichotomies worldview will make

temples untouchable in I will we learn

to love our enemies but we're not told to lava the devil table is supposed to

be destroyed will not be accommodated in

this world or any world so that kind of misguided Christianity has encouraged

American policymakers to demonize North

Korea and probably demonize China as well you see without demonizing you

cannot kill in order to kill your enemy you have to make your enemy a devil

demonize so that's what it's going on in real politics during the Vietnam War

time during the Korean War many innocent young Korean and Asian people were

massacred after having been demonized so

humanization is something we have to change correctly no you can if you

understand North Koreans you don't want to humanize them you know where they're

coming from when you redeem an ID then we think the

devil is or should be destroyed should be killed if that's the case then there

will be no moral nor moral guidelines

for conflict when you kill devil anyway

you can kill still justified in a legitimate war there is ethics of war

you don't Massacre you don't assassinate

leaders when the America assassinated

bin Laden it was assassination assassination is

not in the books of war so when we need

to have a different perspective about North Korea and China - today China is

being demonized by the Trump administration it's a team table because

China deliberately intentionally manufactured the coronavirus to attack

the United States and export to America that tables work when we tell lies

Chinese behavior like that we are indeed humanizing the Chinese after such a

demonization is complete then we'll go slaughter them you know slaughtering

people with the chemical agents biological weapons Neroni nuclear

arsenals so we are living in a very dangerous world where Devils should be

should be dehumanized

so that requires a great deal of discussion understanding knowledge of

North Korea and South Korea okay

professor Park thank you very much to share your ideas on this it's been

Peace Education

already 30 minutes passed and then we are ready to take some questions from

our audience I'm reading some questions right now if you willing to take it

please one questions you mentioned our

roadmap to peace including peace education can you elaborate on what

peace education can be particularly and

how can we be implemented in elementary middle school and high school classroom

the peace education requires two elements one is attitude which is a

personality character attitude and the other is knowledge in terms of attitude

we need to be prepared to accommodate differences when we face differences we

feel almost instantaneously uncomfortable fearful so we should be

comfortable by facing the uncomfortable

so it requires education the requires

socialization so in that sense peace education especially to children the

formative stage of personality it is so important to let them realize that

accommodation of differences what is what peace is about what is what

creativity is all about you know differences will produce will produce

new things when things the same then new things may not be

developing north northern South Korean differences we have to tell the children

the way it is in North Korea rather than the way we would like it to be so that's

a basically bristled education and now you understand do you have to have a

much more precise much more reliable information on North Korea that the the

job of scholars and experts in South Korea and the United States

thank you professor Park another questions he says how do we start the

How do we start the peace

peace or unification specific please

well I would think when you have a

couple divorced for a long time you know I don't think humans divorce 70 years

but it was for a long time usually it takes a mediator in maybe the children

it may be friends mediation mediation is very important media case peacemaker so

all these people who are organizing this event are mediators peacemakers and

mediators mediators required to have

complete boys in two-piece devotion to the gore

rather than having some selfish interests in the process so the problem

here is so people who talk about North Korea they have tested interest in

keeping what they already had so I've heard lab in South Korea that

munication is not worth achieving because it took costly if you compute

unification costs in terms of how much money you will be ending up paying then

it could be very expensive for some people but we are talking about national

or nations collective community

unification will pay off economically culturally politically even militarily

especially militarily so it is so important to realize that unification is

good thing to have and I'm really concerned about those people who are separated from their

families for many decades we have to find the homes where they can live

together we have not seen that we don't have too many left anymore as far as the

directly immediate generation of separated families but we have to have

say a neutral place like DMZ area or Kaesong Industrial Park a lot of

apartments where separated families can come and meet spend not just 2-3 days

but as long as they need to be together that something we all we people who do

not have separate families or to these people that we must do

something politicians must be something you reunification all policies is part of

political national reunification we have

to consider family reuniting that importantly that grandly it's a part of

unification itself thank you another question is what kinds of Korean

Role of Korean Americans

Americans role or action be required to bring peace in Korea I think that

question is a very important one there are some

let's see the North in South Korean combined 880 million people of 80

million 8 million are living abroad 10 percent of Koreans live abroad

almost all of them living abroad in China in outside the United States are

divided families just like I was in China so these divided families living

abroad are coming with a lot of experiences and not knowledge about

different societies that is important asset of the country of the nation

yes there are some people in Cuba in in

Africa in remote corners of the world they have a lot of experience and it is

the asset not liability for our country so you have to utilize overseas Koreans

for the purpose of making peace between the two parts say if we ever form I am

as a scholar I'd like to advocate the creation of the the construction of a peace university

between North and South Korea maybe TMG that Peace University should make a

peace between North and South Korea if we found a way of doing just that that

model will be very helpful to peace meeting in the world in Middle Eastern

Africa in Southeast Asia all over the world so Korean people partly because of

overseas Koreans are uniquely qualified to develop peace campaign peace model

not only for ourselves but for the entire world and history so that's where

young people in Korea must find a sense of pride yes it's nice to have economic

development in South Korea now yes it's nice to have a nuclear weapons in North

Korea so self-defense capability is good thing to have

but that's not the source of pride the source pride it should be found in the

people in the peoples attribute characters

the fact that we have 10 percent of Koreans living abroad

there's a lot of experience that should be utilized for unified and peaceful

Korea you see experience is so important the experience will make us more wiser

wisdom comes with the personal experience knowledge may come from

education but the education will not produce wisdom

so in terms of existence or understanding of overseas Koreans they

are very wise and they can be used for

something that cannot be created by any other people of different experiences so

I'm a korean-american I find myself in

this shoes a sense of pride there are things that we can be proud of we can be

shamed we learn from our mistakes so we have the dialogue very comprehensively

from human point of view with other people then we can each them wisdom and

we can learn from them more wisdom so without which the world will not be

sustained if we let the United States to

the way it has been doing last 30 minutes the environment is messed up and

distributive justice is not there so domestic as well the international

global community today is vastly skilled

in terms of wealth and income distribution we have to rectify that

in that rectification campaign Koreans especially overseas Koreans can play

very significant role Thank You professor for another

Security Paradigm Shift

questions about Corbett 19 and secure a paradigm shift so the question says in

the age of Kovac 19 we now have different understanding about security

out of this global crisis do you see any hope for the reducing emphasis on the

security which depending on the hard military power to more human yeah based

paradigm right I think that is a very perceptive question timely as well I

have been shocked I have lived in the United States for 55 years and

university professor almost 50 years I know America quite well I've experienced

some can prep presidents in the United States last 55 years I've never been

this much ashamed and embarrassed by American inability to cope with

coronavirus this is a embarrassment because there's nothing working

democracy we are bragging about is not working we have very special federalist

system where you have federal government in Washington and some 50 some states

governments this this was of course the ideal American Founding Fathers the

Confederacy Oh Federation system it's not working

it's not working because state governments are competing with one

another to get more share of goodies

testing materials or whatever medical equipments so so so here now the federal

government and state governments are also in competition rather than trying

to deal with real problem on the ground it is doing something about the virus

we're not seeing that America is way behind in fact behind the South Korea

certainly behind the North Korea behind also China so when we get out of this

dis endemic situation hopefully

Americans will be wiser with such a bitter experience no we hundred fifty

thousand people will die before summer is over

it's unheard of so we have to reexamine

the efficiency and effectiveness of our political system we have to really

examine American values norms freedom is okay good but not unlimited freedom

majority rule is fine but not majority

dictatorship so we've got to yes the kind of value system we have stemming

from Christianity is valuable but we have to selectively apply to political

lights to religion this good thing that religion stay in the religion domain so

churches state separation is good thing to do but we're not going to see that

very effectively in any case because of

the humidity that we are experienced in the United States with respect to covet 19 we have to be

smarter wiser we have to through serious

discussion and discussion of humility we

have to learn more learn better and be able to create a better world than

before Thank You professor port another

Demonization of America

questions about the demonization so um I'll read this thank you for addressing

the demonization of China - how can we

educate Americans that sought racism has a long history as a tool used to

manipulate public opinions into supporting war yeah when we reflect on

Chinese culture and Chinese civilization there are a lot of things we can be

thinking very carefully I think the slave system that we have

had we thought we abolished is not dead yet we have to be very seriously

involved in discussing whether the slave system is still remaining somewhere in

some form and also this country was created on the

I would call its original sin of killing

all the indigenous people with weapons that's American militarism

and then we have white supremacists too kind of perspective especially under

this administration so unless unless we change our basic

attitudes toward minorities in the United especially black and also toward

foreigners coming here we have to be

really honest to ourselves and meet the

fact that America did have something I would call the original sin we are not

getting away from that so so I think if

you are American citizens show your preferences in the election in other

opinion out that but it is such an important thing that we change the

culture of America you see America is a very very blessed government and country

for the sake of global human race improvement we need to improve America

America is not an isolated case we have to through America we have to save

humanity we have to make human race better so that's something we need to

sit down and discuss goods and bad of

both sides of America and see what

exists tential lessons we can learn from

so yes thank you very much professor

Closing

Park for your insightful comments and your wisdom I think what we have tons of

questions to ask to you but I guess it's time almost to let you go so thank you

very much for your time and joining today and I hope that this dialogue really give us an opportunity to think

about shift of paradigm from security to

peace paradigm to make our world more peaceful thank you very much joining

today and then back to Greystone Thank You professor Chang and thank you

professor part we can literally go over all the questions all right not all

night long but um with limited time we have I will turn over the mic to echo

Cho from woman crusty MC for the important announcement

hello everybody I am very inspired by

dr. parts of in our today and I hope to see him again at the Peace University

soon that he speaks more about peace we have a few announcements and some events

coming up right now very soon and we have a timeline of a calendar of events

and if we can share that on the screen

we have just finished the online advocacy registration and this webinar I

hope that it was very helpful for those people who are participating in the upcoming virtual advocacy week which is

the first week of June and if you are so inspired today after listening to dr.

Peretz webinar you can still register please email to come at women cross the

NZ auto ID and we will let you just those people who are on this webinar

that you register and participate in that um we have the online training

coming up on May 28th for the advocacy training it'll be about two hours so

that you're prepared for the advocacy week and anybody who has registered

should participate in the upcoming training next Thursday and it'll be very

insightful of all the legislation that we're going to go over which will be one

of the items that dr. Park mentioned on the divider family can be one of them

and H was 152 calling for more in the Korean War and hr6 639 which is no

unconstitutional war against North Korea act on that is of 2020 so every detail

of the advocacy week will be covered on May 28th makes Thursday and for our next

webinar for June it's the significant date of June 25th with dr. Bruce coming

he'll be joining with us and he will be talking of course on the Korean War and

the title that he wanted to use for this webinar is the unknown war

legacy of 70 years of Korean War so please register for the upcoming webinar

for June and we'll be sending you everybody all the invitation for the

June 11 are so thank you so much for joining us tonight and back to grace

oh yeah I'm sure same thing applies to you and hope to see you guys

all on our next webinar thank you for joining us bye good night

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An Interview with Han S. Park Interviewer: Park Jai-In

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An Interview with Han S. Park 

Interviewer: Park Jai-In

(HK Research Professor, Institute of Humanities for Unification, Konkuk University)

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About the Interviewee Professor Park Han-sik holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and 

teaches international relations at the University of Georgia, focusing on the problem of peace. In 2002, he was director of the Institute for International Studies, and is currently professor emeritus at the university. Professor Park is the one who has personally practiced and proved that the interKorean mutual respect, dialogue, and engagement policy on the Korean Peninsula are the most effective. In recognition of his lifelong work, he was awarded the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prize in 2010. Among books written in Korean is Thinking Beyond the Line: About the Twelve Biases that Separate the South and the North (Bookie, 2018).

About the Interviewer Park Jai-In earned a doctorate in literature with a focus on classic narrative and literary therapy, and became a research professor at the Institute of Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University in 2015. Currently, she is conducting research on emotional empathy and healing program development through integrated narrative, with a focus on social practice of the spirit of humanities for unification.

This interview was carried out at the office of the Director of the Institute of Humanities for Unification, Konkuk University in 2014. 

Suggestions for Peace and Unification on the Korean Peninsula by a KoreanAmerican Intellectual

What Unification Scholar Han S. Park Has to Say

Park Jai-In In the past, when you talked about how you felt about being born in China and experiencing the North, you said, “I am an international person by birth, and I am a person who encompasses the South and the North by birth.” Your statement had a profound impact on me. I wonder about the processes and adversities you have had to endure to be here as a renowned unification scholar.

Han S. Park I’m a scholar through and through. Nevertheless, the experience of going to Pyongyang about sixty times was not just meaningful to me as a scholar. Of course, I am interested in North Korean society and have many questions, so I went because there was a scholarly desire to examine it more closely. However, I couldn’t help but think of peace, as we have seen the inter-Korean relations proceed in an undesirable direction from division until today. At a time when I was unable to rule out a second Korean War, in the worst case scenario, in addition to the existing problems of separated families and military expenses, I vowed, as a scholar, to contribute to peace rather than focus on personal academic interests. But this isn’t necessarily the role of a scholar. As a human being, and one of a divided country, I see both South Korea and North Korea my own homeland. Unification will not be difficult if both South and North 

Koreans become friends, but this is not easy to achieve. In Korea, the way of thinking is often divided into us versus the enemies, and such dichotomous thoughts and values have become entrenched in the culture. After liberation, the military culture became prevalent in this society as the war broke out. I went to the United States fifty years ago to study,  and worked as an American scholar for fifty years. I didn’t teach Far East problems there either. I taught philosophy of science and political philosophy for forty-five years, and in the first four to five years, I was extremely busy completing my master’s and doctorate. That’s why I’m returning to my homeland, to retire this year. I’ve been to North and South Korea, so I have experienced problems that come from living in said societies. So, when I look back on my life as a scholar, I have to define why I’ve walked this path. In retrospect, I need to discuss the living environment, the Korean War, and why I studied political science in the U.S. In addition, sixty years have passed since we communicated with North Korea, which is a very important problem in my life. If I hadn’t become interested in the North Korea problem, I would have lived comfortably as a scholar in the United States. It's extremely difficult to go to North Korea. It’s not just the South Korean government’s attitude. One has to avoid arrows from all over the place. As I received anticommunist education, I was very scared when I first went to Pyongyang. I thought to myself, “What if I die? I have a wife and children.” I felt so threatened and frustrated beyond what words could describe. Nevertheless, the painful experience of steadily concentrating on North Korea despite all the risks seems to be a significant achievement now. Hwang Sŏk-kŭn once said, “The history of the two Koreas seen through meaning,” but perhaps we should call it “division and the task of unification seen through meaning”? It’s a theme that I’m interested in. The problem of division should not be seen through political and institutional aspects, but through the perspectives of the humanities such as mentalité and culture. This is the standard for unification. We will feel it year by year, but if we don’t look at division in the manner I have just described, we don’t need unification. I have much to say about the desirable attitude toward the challenge of unification. And I would like to talk about how to view the two Koreas as well as heterogeneity and homogeneity of the two Koreas. I’m a person who doesn’t have a hometown. I’m a displaced person, forever. I’m honored to give myself the nickname a “man of peace.” A man for peace, a man of peace, a man who knows nothing other than peace. Because without peace, we become completely depleted. Then what is peace? How did I come to long for peace? The North Koreans were very kind to me and treated me as their friend. Why did they treat me as a friend? And why did I come to regard them as friends? What is a friend? After all, it all depends on my perspective and logic. In this regard, I would like to talk about dialectical unification. Thesis and antithesis are each South and North Korea, respectively, and the synthesis is unification. If we create peace, then we can achieve synthesis. But losing just one factor will lead to a failure to achieve the synthesis.  Therefore, I think the two Koreas should be as when the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis meet at a higher level visà-vis peace. What should we do to achieve this? I often talk about the “house.” Unification is to go into a house and go under the roof together on a rainy day. But the people in the house use different rooms, separate kitchens, and separate bathrooms. In this type of living situation, there will be group expenditures. For example, if there is a hole in the roof of 

the reception room and the snow is falling, we should help to fix it together. That’s how real problems arise, and we need to work together to solve them. Therefore, if the two Koreas do not resolve and overcome their mistakes, there will be no thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. We have to start by finding a solution within ourselves, discovering and solving our own inherent contradictions. That’s dialectical evolution and development. That’s why we have to approach unification in such a way. It is my opinion that finding inherent contradictions in the two Koreas within South and North should be considered in humanities; without the humanities, it would be difficult. So what is the methodology based on the humanities? It is essential to consider the appropriate way to compare the two Koreas. It is a question of what to see in North Korea and what points of comparison there may be in South Korea. Some might say that they can be friends with North Korea, and others might say that this is difficult. We need to think about why I became a friend and why I can’t be a comrade. Unification becomes easy when people are good friends, despite the discrepancies in the ideologies and lifestyles of the South and the North. However, in Korea, the dichotomy is fixed by the military culture. As the common saying goes, one is either a comrade or an enemy, so it is difficult to communicate or engage in relationships in any meaningful way. In looking at this from the political science point of view, one may say this is political ideology. I am an outsider in the humanities, but from a humanities perspective, a dichotomy is not appropriate. People are all different; there are conservatives, progressives, or many others in the middle of that spectrum at the same time. This is democratic. That’s why we want to think about adherence to a humanistic society by North and South Koreans. I think considering how to compare the two Koreas could be a project to build a relationship between North Korea and South Korea. Thinking about how to appropriately compare North and South Korea from a humanistic perspective is a crucial issue. The two Koreas should establish practical preparations for unification. The success or failure of unification is in the preparation for unification. That’s why it is called a preparation. Shouldn’t we have a vision of 

what the outcome of the preparation will be? We need to establish what a unified country, the North and the South, and the Korean Peninsula will look like. And the definition of distribution should be determined so as to be consistent. This is all about the problem of distribution. In addition, finding answers in terms of how best to organize the relationships between groups and individuals to create a unified Korea and similar problems is preparing for unification.

A Perspective on North Korea: A Family 

State Centered on Kim Il-sung as the 

Head of the Family

Park Jai-In  I think the starting point in comprehensively understanding the Korean Peninsula policy, inter-Korean relations, and nuclear issues is how to understand North Korea. Don’t we need to pinpoint what the reality of North Korea is like so that we can find a solution? How do you think we should look at North Korea?

Han S. Park First of all, I think it is not comprehensive to see North Korea as a republic, a simple hereditary state, a dictatorship, or a military state. North Korea should be regarded as a “family state.” The concept of a family state is unknown to the world because the family and the nation have always been treated as discrete entities. However, I believe that by combining the two concepts of family and nation, “North Korea became a nation by expanding the family unit.” To see the nation, we need to see the family culture, the family system, the relationships within the family, and the economic structure of the family. And we need to understand North Korea in such a light. North Korea’s perpetuity, or unchangedness, is that it began as a family state and will continue to be a family state for a considerable period of time. Then, what is a family state? And why did this system become established in North Korea? We’ll have to analyze this. A family state should be seen from a Confucian perspective; it should be considered 

as a family that can be found in traditional Confucian societies, not in Western industrial, superindustrial, or urban societies. In Confucianism, the order of the family is very clearly established. Confucianism proposes a desirable, appropriate social order, which can be seen in its tenet of the Three Bonds and Five Relationships. The Three Bonds and Five Relationships defines relationships and delineates what a virtuous relationship is. This is done also in numerous Confucian texts, which discuss relationships between father and son, husband and wife, ruler and ministers, friends, and different hierarchies.  In other words, Confucianism defines all relationships in society that we can possibly imagine.  If we look at the family state from the perspective of Confucian culture, we need to examine the laws governing the family as well as the impact of family culture or Confucian culture on the family. The Confucian family is an extended family, so hierarchy is important. Hierarchy here is not simply determined by physical age. For example, an uncle is above me even if he is physically younger than I. So, if we were to bring together two people in a large family, we have to decide the hierarchy between the two: this is Confucianism. There’s no confusion. In this regard, the fact that North Korea has followed or implemented the family system of Confucian culture means that the desirable relationship among all people in North Korean society is conceptualized. In the manifestations of the family in North Korean society, the most important is that it originated from Kim Il-sung. Kim Il-sung was born in 1912. His position as the father of North Korea has accumulated deep history and achievements. I think it is more than appropriate to establish that North Korea is a family state with Kim Il-sung as its patriarch. However, the family state exists beyond Kim Il-sung’s lifetime. Family lasts forever in Confucian society through ancestral rites. In North Korea, a nation-wide ancestral rite is held on April 15, the birth date of Kim Il-sung. They celebrate, hold ancestral rites, and participate in all kinds of events. We have a mythical story that the Korean people are descendants of Tangun, and even after thousands of years, we are symbolically conscious that we are descendants of Tangun. In such a way, “North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is a nation for Kim Il-sung, created by Kim Il-sung, and where Kim Ilsung lasts forever, just as Tan’gun does.” The idea of Juche was created to give legitimacy to this. Was Juche ideology created to guide politics? Of course, that’s an element, but the main purpose of Juche ideology is to establish the culture and hierarchy of the family state. The founder of Juche ideology that North Koreans are aware of is Kim Il-sung. Also, leaders such as Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un are those who implemented the idea of Juche according to the needs of the times. People ask me the following questions frequently because I go to North Korea often and know North Korea well. “Did Kim Jong-un take power through proper means? Did Kim Jong-il take power by legitimate means?” The key to North Korea’s power and political dynamics is Kim Il-sung even at this time. North Korea is still the nation of Kim Ilsung. Outsiders do not clearly understand this. If we think of Kim Il-sung as George Washington or South Korean President Syngman Rhee, we cannot possibly understand North Korea. Therefore, when it comes to understanding North Korea, the status of Kim Il-sung should be assumed as the head of the family. Kim Il-sung is referred to as ŏbŏi suryŏng, literally Parent-Leader. In the Confucian family culture, parents are not leaders, per se. China’s turbulent times also had some Confucian aspects. However, no place has a Confucian family system as strong as that of the Korean Peninsula. And it is our task to analyze that culture. However, Kim Il-sung is said to live forever in the family state. Living means changing. It’s not stagnant. Then we should see how the spirit of Kim Il-sung as Juche ideology has changed, and how the next generation plays a role in the change. That change is an important issue.

The Background of the Establishment of the Ideological Foundation—Juche—of North Korean Society 

Park Jai-In  In other words, it is difficult to fully understand North Korea unless we accurately understand the locus of Kim Il-sung 

in North Korea. The ideological foundation that constitutes the current North Korean society is Juche ideology, and a family state centered on Kim Il-sung was established on this foundation. Could you elaborate on the meaning of Juche ideology in such a structure?

Han S. Park As it is today, the most important issue after North Korea was established was to define its identity. This is the only way to establish a nation. Moreover, they were in competition with South Korea. It was crucial to establish a national identity that could gain an upper hand in a situation in which the North Korean system could be compared to the South Korean system. And this identity was Juche. South Korea had a pro-American liberal democracy in the Syngman Rhee government. In South Korea, there was an international foothold from the beginning of the nation’s founding. Perhaps we could see it as a global nation? In any case, it began by relying on the U.S. to a certain extent, to understand it simply. While responding to the identity of the South, North Korea needed a national identity that could outperform that of the South. It was an identity that was emphasized “ourselves” or self-reliance in response to a foreign-influenced identity. Next, the main motivation for the establishment of Juche ideology is anti-Japanese thought, or resistance against Japan. Without knowing this strain, it is difficult to explain Juche. It has an absolute meaning in establishing the justification of Kim Il-sung’s power. As we all know, Kim Il-sung organized a guerrilla group in Manchuria and led an anti-Japanese movement. Emphasizing this point, he said, “We have lost our country because of foreign influence, and so we can no longer rely on foreign power. Let us be self-reliant.” This is Juche. And it has become an important driver of the establishment of the ideology.

Park Jai-In So, what is the philosophical foundation of Juche?

Han S. Park The first is human-centered thought directed to resist capitalism. Capitalism, in the North Korean view, is premised on materialism. As we know, Kim Il-sung was a devout Marxist. Marx’s view of capitalism is determined by material 

and by the market economy, so resistance against capitalism is to break away and escape from the market economy, which is Juche. There is a philosophical background of “human beings as the center of the universe.” The next important aspect in Juche is that it is collectivist by nature. The national system should be united, not divided by individualism, and the party leaders under the state all bear a collective meaning. Therefore, in Juche, individualism is verboten. “One for all, all for one.” This forms the core of North Korea’s ideological foundation. Juche ideology considers social structure as a political and social organization or a living body. The body must have a brain, nerves, and organs. And the brain is the core of the body because the brain determines everything. That’s why the organization system is operated wherein North Korea’s Workers’ Party can take the center stage so that the nation may move in unison. With the brain as the center, numerous organizations, including the military and bureaucracy, can function as a single organic entity. Next, the philosophical background of Juche ideology is ethnonationalism, an ideology formed for the Korean people. In a way, what is underlying Juche is the philosophical and subjective background of the superiority of the ethnonation. Therefore, all policies concerning international relations, economy, society, culture, and education are premised on Juche ideology. Then was Juche born overnight? No, the term “Juche” has been in use for a long time, but Juche ideology was systematized after the end of the Korean War as the power struggle became quite severe in the midst of the nation being organized. People from different sociocultural backgrounds organized the Workers’ Party of Korea in disparate places, and there was work from the mid-1950s to the late 1950s to organize the party to localize and consolidate power. At this time, Kim Il-sung emphasized the idea of ethnonationalism. From this philosophical foundation, a political slogan was born: “It must be Juche. We must be self-reliant.  We must exclude foreign power.” It was only a political slogan, but over the years, it came to bear a complete philosophical background of human-centered thought in the mid-1960s. Based on such a philosophical foundation, Juche established three principles: (1) self-reliance in politics, (2) self-reliance 

in military affairs, and (3) economic independence, precepts that have been promoted to the present.

The Process of Evolution from Juche to 

Military-First Ideology

Park Jai-In You explained Juche, which is the ideological foundation of North Korean society. What are the processes that North Korea has experienced and become what it is today based on Juche? Please tell us about the political utility of Juche ideology and the political changes in North Korea over the three generations of leaders, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un.

Han S. Park Juche ideology was originally established as anti-foreignpower thought, but it is not necessarily intended to reject foreign powers. Currently, North Korea has reached the point where it actively selects and utilizes foreign influence. Juche began as anti-foreign-power thought, but it has now turned into the idea of taking the initiative, including in regard to foreign influence. I think we could expect some political utility in terms of Juche ideology, which is based on self-reliance, human-centered ideas, ethnonationalism, and independence from foreign power. There was some reaction to this even in South Korea in the 70s and the 80s, as we can see in the so-called Jucheists who gained some prominence. However, what we consider important is that this is only one aspect of Kim Il-sung’s establishment of identity. In fact, Juche ideology did not lead to economic growth or strengthen national defense. After the Kim Il-sung generation, Juche ideology took root to a great extent in 1994, and while interacting with the South, Kim Il-sung claimed that he would attend a summit with South Korea because he had confidence that he would be able to communicate with radical progressives in the South. But he passed away in 1994. Then, what reasons did Kim Il-sung have to approve of holding a summit with 

President Kim Young-sam? US President Jimmy Carter played a part, as did I. Was it not the Kim Jong-il regime that was based on such a foundation? What is the political purpose of the Kim Jong-il regime? It’s not about establishing selfreliance. It was his father’s job to establish self-reliance, legitimacy, and independence, and what Kim Jong-il needed to do was to continue the sovereignty of the state. North Korea believed that security was necessary to maintain the regime. For Kim Jong-il, national security was everything, and the center of every policy was security. But there was a lack of physical prerequisites. Now that I think about it, he had to advocate independent national defense for security. One needs weapons for security. But conventional weapons entail economic power. Also, there was no possibility that conventional weapons could be developed to a level equivalent to that of the weapons held by South Korea and the United States. In this situation, the emphasis fell on nuclear weapons development. Kim Il-sung was highly interested in nuclear weapons because Japan’s militarism, which had proved mighty in Kim Il-sung’s experience, was demolished overnight by nuclear weapons. Consequently, North Korea trained nuclear physicists. This already started during Kim Il-sung’s regime. However, Kim Il-sung himself did not start actually developing nuclear weapons. The beginning is when Kim Jong-il took the helm. Kim Jong-il took power in 1994, but it was from 1980 that he actually had a leading influence on North Korean politics. He played a significant role in the party’s propaganda policy for a long time. As such, after his father passed away, he was able to advocate the independent state and pursue nuclear weapons persistently as soon as he took power. Of course, nuclear weapons were developed while Kim Il-sung was alive, but it was done really under the leadership of Kim Jong-il. The actual political regime was already handed over to Kim Jong-il in the late 1980s. The idea that “In order to maintain independent national defense, we need nuclear weapons development imminently,” was persistently embedded in Kim Jong-il’s mind. Thus, Kim Jong-il stepped up his efforts to develop nuclear weapons despite all the risks. The sanctions by the United States and the United Nations posed serious economic and political problems, but the Kim Jong-il regime closed its eyes on such issues and proceeded with nuclear development. During Kim Jong-il’s reign, despite international opposition, North Korea conducted three rounds of nuclear testing. It also developed and tested long-range guided missiles, disguising them as satellites, and eventually succeeded in making them, in addition to the nuclear testing. It was in this context that Kim Jong-il passed away. The most significant thought during Kim Jong-il’s reign is the so-called Military-First ideology, whereby the military is privileged above everything else. We need to understand this thoroughly. This ideology is not one in which all the people blindly follow the military. “The Military as the People, the Militarization of the People.” This slogan is always attached to the Military-First ideology. The militarization of the people is based on the idea that the conscious and ideological preparations that the military must possess must be thoroughly practiced as well by the people, who must be able to use weapons. When one goes to North Korea, one sees that girls can maneuver all the large weapons. I saw that even the thinnest and gentlest girls could take guns apart and put them back together. This is the militarization of the people. In addition, the military as the people is based on the idea that the military should exist in the private sector. This means that the members of the military have to live serving the people in the civilian population. As such, there are numerous technical workers in the military. There are also engineers and scientists in the military as North Koreans must serve in the military for about ten years. These people in the military go to villages and serve the civilians there. Therefore, the numerical data that outsiders focus on in their analysis, namely whether North Korea’s military is composed of one million or 600,000 troops, is meaningless. If any North Korean is old enough to hold a gun, he or she is a soldier. This was established not during Kim Il-sung’s reign, but during Kim Jong-il’s reign through the establishment of the MilitaryFirst ideology.

The New Agenda of North Korean Politics: The People’s Livelihood

Park Jai-In  Then, what kind of issue does the Kim Jong-un regime focus on?

Han S. Park Any nation must achieve three goals to survive. Establishing identity and thorough security must be achieved. Security does not only include physical security, but also psychological and cultural security. With the generalization of the MilitaryFirst ideology, North Korea became united in one political system, wherein all the people and the military can unite to defend the nation. It also led North Koreans to believe that they developed nuclear weapons and guided missiles as part of their efforts toward national defense. Kim Jongil gained confidence as he entered the later stages of his regime. The next essential factor is the people’s livelihood. In the later stages of Kim Jong-il’s regime, Kim began turning his attention to the people’s livelihoods. Therefore, as Kim Jong-un took over the regime, he put political emphasis on this very issue. His grandfather established the national identity and Juche ideology, and his father secured national security through Military-First ideology and nuclear weapons development. Now that the Kim Jong-un regime has begun, the new regime cannot simply extend the previous achievements. The Kim Jong-un generation is expected to elicit significant changes in North Korean society because of the transformations in political and ideological dynamics. Kim Jong-un believes that he should focus on the people’s livelihood, but the wealth and power of the nation are already concentrated elsewhere. Since ideological education had to be provided in all areas to establish Juche ideology, there was no room to accelerate economic growth. After that, North Korea could not concentrate on the economy as it was focused on establishing Military-First politics and weapons development; there were also international sanctions in the process. In contemporary society, a nation has to participate in the international market for economic growth. Finance, market, sales, and even profits are accessed by entering 

the international market, but North Korea has been limited by international sanctions. International sanctions due to the development of nuclear weapons have caused great difficulties in North Korea’s economy. When the Kim Jongun regime began, North Korea was a still poor nation. There was a critical issue that he had to take over a poor nation and solve its economic problems, and yet he also could not neglect security and national identity; there is South Korea, and there is the United States. And security and national identity could not be neglected in light of the changes in socialist nations. Kim Jong-un, who became the head of the state at the age of twenty-eight, now has the task of at once maintaining national identity and security, and enhancing the people’s livelihood. This is an extremely complicated and difficult situation for him. I participated in the centennial of Kim Ilsung’s birth. At that time, Kim Jong-un gave an impressive speech about how the people must be offered a way out of their poverty-stricken lives. The remarks were a declaration to the world that the economic situation in North Korea was difficult. Now North Korea has to start fruitful diplomacy, but international sanctions are a stumbling block. The most important factor for any country, especially for developing nations, is to borrow from international lending institutions. This is a matter of using sovereignty as collateral to borrow large sums of money. This is impossible under international sanctions. While participating in the international market, the Kim Jong-un regime realizes it needs to establish relationships with the global financial market and reap its benefits, all the while resolving the international conflicts over the nuclear weapons issue. Kim Jong-un is paying attention to improving relations with the United States. He knows that, without so doing, it would be difficult to achieve economic growth and restore people’s livelihoods. Of course, there are China and other power players aside from the US, but there is no place the US influence does not reach in the global economy. Economic issues are also more important than security. The goals of North Korea’s top-priority foreign policies are now very clear; it is all about improving relations with the US. Therefore, there will be persistent efforts and policies to improve relations with the U.S. in the future. Claiming that it will compete with the U.S. and that it will not give in even if a military conflict is inevitable for any sovereign state due to a certain domestic sentiment. North Korea’s domestic sentiment is focused on the fact that it has grown into a nation with an outstanding national identity, an ideological superiority over South Korea, and strong national security. The main issue of the Kim Jong-un regime is to strengthen and maintain such consciousness and to enhance the quality of people’s lives. Kim Jong-un cannot achieve this alone. Now North Korea faces the challenge of analyzing international affairs realistically and methodically, and responding to them in order to develop wise policies within the Workers’ Party and within the system. South Korea is a big part of this problem, as North Korea–US relations and inter-Korean relations are directly related. It is a strategic contradiction to focus only on improving North Korea–US relations without South Korea. I believe that it would be wise for the Kim Jong-un regime to pursue improvement in inter-Korea relations at the same time; I think that the regime will in fact do so.

Meeting on a Higher Level vis-à-vis 

Peace: Dialectical Unification

Park Jai-In Currently rampant is the black-and-white culture between South and North Korea, which has increased the hostility between the two Koreas. Peaceful unification is just an illusion in such a situation. What is the way to enable unification in this situation?

Han S. Park One of the methodologies for unification that has been raised so far is, “Let the two Koreas restore homogeneity and unify based on homogeneity.” Therefore, the task of unification is to restore homogeneity. There are many people and analysts who argue along this line of thought. However, I think it is wrong to find the way to unification in the restoration of homogeneity. If we set a standard for homogeneity, there may be competition, jealousy, and struggle. What South and 

North Korea need more than restoring homogeneity is the acceptance of heterogeneity. I think there should be wisdom to recognize and accept heterogeneity between each other. What it means to accept heterogeneity is not to say that in face of heterogeneity, we must live together reluctantly. Acceptance means that we accept heterogeneity to make progress and develop ourselves. So the concept of accepting heterogeneity is that “by accepting heterogeneity, we form a harmony between us and what has been alienated, and through it, develop into a phase of harmony and progress that was not possible by ‘I alone’ in the past.” Of course, accepting heterogeneity doesn’t solve everything. But what’s important is that accepting heterogeneity means coexisting. It means overcoming the discord that comes from differences. Let’s consider this concept of überwinden (“overcoming”) philosophically and epistemologically. It is to overcome the heterogeneity between the two Koreas. For example, in the South, individualism and materialism are prevalent, and capitalism is the foundational system. The North, on the other hand, is not an externally materialistic society. Socialism based on Marx’s and Lenin’s ideas is that substructure, which is the basis of society, is material. However, North Korea’s substructure is not material. The foundation of the society that North Korea advocates is spirit and people. In such a way, even when the economy is in dire straits, it could justify the power of the state. In addition, South Korea tends toward being individualistic, but North Korea absolutely pursues a lifestyle centered on groups. Another significant difference from South Korea is that North Korea maintains a social order through family relations. As I said before, North Korea is a family state. The clue to solutions lies in this aspect. We cannot locate the truth about North Korea in socialism or Marxism. I believe the task of overcoming heterogeneity between the two Koreas is possible through dialectical means. Dialectics has its basis in the Yin/Yang thought in the East and was organized by Plato in the West, thus being formed into a philosophical system. The effort to overcome, to accept heterogeneity in relation to the unification of the two Koreas is based on a dialectical perspective. In dialectics, the progress of a society, group, and individual is seen as overcoming the inherent weaknesses. Overcoming one’s own vulnerability means first finding one’s own vulnerability. It’s impossible to evolve dialectically without introspection on existing problems. In this context, we need to investigate what is wrong with South Korea and with North Korea. And in so doing, we must sublate such aspects. Moreover, we should be prepared to support the positive aspects. This is the dialectical method for unification. It is not that A and B are added physically to create A + B, but that adding A and B should yield C. It’s qualitatively different from what previously existed, an evolution of true thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. It isn’t the thesis, it isn’t the antithesis. No matter how much the thesis is expanded, it does not become synthesis. As such, if we want to harmonize the South and the North in the dialectical logic of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, we need to create a new system in addition to different ideologies, values, and institutions. Accordingly, the dialectical methodology for unification should be devised in detail. What is dialectical unification at the economic level? Within policies? Thinking about such problems one by one is what scholars and experts aiming for a unified government should draw upon. The unification task is difficult but essential. If we unify in the manner we have examined thus far, we will leave a mark in history of the how to effectively solve relationships of division, fracture, and dissonance.

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