Sunday, June 13, 2004

The nutty professor

This is an article from the Korean Times by "nutty" Professor Kim Keun-sik. Let's get out our "blue Corea" flags and wave it along as he edumicates us on the great value of the 2000 Inter-Korean summit (you know, the one where Kim Jeong il and Kim Dae Jung got all snuggly).

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Hi! My name is Kim Keun-sik and I'm a professor of something in Kyungnam University. By the way, I'm also retarded! But don't just take my word for it; please read my article and find out for yourself!

It has now been four years since the June 15, 2000 joint declaration was made. The inter-Korean summit talks leading to that declaration is an accomplishment in itself that has historical significance. If we look at the conflict-filled history between the two nations since the division, the fact that the leaders of the two enemy countries hugged each other with broad smiles shows that the first step toward the era for reconciliation has been taken.


I agree, it was historically significant. The summit, as Keun-sik apparentely forgot to mention, was purchased for the parsely sum of 100 million dollars, ergo the willingness of Kim Jeong il to smile, hug and shake hands (hell, I would hump someone's leg like a dog for that kind of money). The historical signficance is that from that point forward Kim Jeong Il and Co. are now assured that the South Korean government will in no way try to get them to change their evil ways. No compromise is too big, no blackmail payoff is too high. We are one people!!

Besides general agreements such as the principle of autonomy and the recognition of a plan for reunification, the joint declaration touched on resolving humanitarian issues,


Ignore the "general agreements" because they are completely meaningless, but what's this you say? Resolving humanitarian issues? Did, Kim Dae Jung, that famous crusader for democracy and human rights, get Kim Jeong il to commit to changing his atrocious human rights record?

including the reunification of separated families; economic cooperation and bilateral exchanges; and regular convening of inter-Korean talks between the two Koreas.


Oh. I guess the subject of a million plus dead North Koreans, political concentration camps, and the general day to day crushing of thought and spirit by the Norcs just didn't come up. I bet on the last meeting Kim Dae Jung was saying, "Damn, there was one more thing I wanted to bring up but I just can't remember it right now...ah well, it probably wasn't that important! Enjoy all our money!"

Now, "reunification of separated families" should read "very brief and heavily monitored reunification of separated families paid for by the South and thus at absolutely no inconvenience or threat to the North Korean regime." It is certainly a good thing and the more the better, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking it reflects any real change in the North. Get the North to actually let these elderly people return to the south and live out the remainder of their lives with a full belly admist their loved ones and I'll be impressed.

"Economic Cooperation and bilateral exchanges" means South Korea agrees to send a shitload of money and goods to North Korea and North Korea agrees to accept it (assuming they can remove all traces of evidence of its origin and that they can use it secretly in any way they wish). Thanks Kim Dae Jung!!

Now, four years later, we can see in various places how the ``strength’’ of the June 15 declaration is building up. More than anything else, the strength of the declaration can be seen in the South’s society.


Yes, the "strength" of the June 15 declaration can ONLY be seen in the South's society!! Thank you for being honest Keun-sik. You see, these days, "progress" is made by changing the society in democratic south and not demanding ANY changes from our comrades to the north. Also, it was a good call to put quotation marks around "strength." It saved me from having to mentally do that myself.

The development of exchanges between the two Koreas since the summit talks and the acceleration of reconciliation of the peoples resulted in the political victory of forces for peace in the 2002 election. And in the recent April elections, for the first time in our constitutional history, the forces for reconciliation of the two Koreas became a majority in the National Assembly.


So, thanks to summit talks the Corean government is finally moving away from forces critical of North Korea. Indeed, this IS great progress. Now lets see, you paid money a ton of money to Kim Jeong il AND delivered a friendly government. In return, Kim Jeong il agreed to do nothing to substantially change his government or treat his people better in any way. You shrewd negotiators you!

After the summit, the conflict between South and North remained, but the changing times showed the mood was turning towards reconciliation and cooperation.


Yeah, unfortunately North Korea kept killing South Korean soldiers (well, their navy anyway) and decided to break their agreement about not making nukes. Hmmm...maybe you should have given them more money? Anyway, fortunately the progressives were able to ignore those little details and keep blindly pushing on towards reconciliation.

Despite protests by conservatives, the movement to help North Korean victims of the recent explosion at Ryongchon enjoyed a great deal of support, and became an example of how the strength of the June 15 declaration was one that couldn’t be ignored.


Protests from conservatives? Missed that one, unless you are talking about those troublemakers who were critical of North Korea for stalling efforts to get medical supplies to the injured.
Ah yes, thanks to the June 15 declaration now we can rest assured that North Korea will take as much money and supplies from us as we will give. Yes, truly another great strength of the June 15th declaration.

Oh, one question! How are the other 30+ million starving North Koreans doing? What, isn't the June 15 declaration helping them out in some way? What about the hundreds of thousand refugees being hunted down and shipped back to North Korea by the Chinese? Anything in the declaration for them? No?

Also, the strength of the June 15 declaration is affecting the development of South-North relations and the development of peace in the peninsula. After the summit, there have been 14 ministerial conferences and nine Inter-Korean Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation talks between the two nations. Meetings between the two countries have now entered a level of order and structure, and the civic exchanges and cooperation between countries have developed so quickly it is difficult to absorb all the progress in detail.


Yes, many, many meetings. So much progress to absorb in detail. I'm sure if Keun-sik had the time, he would tell us all of this great, great progress towards peace on the peninsula. Let's just take his word for it and stop asking so many pestering questions.

And so the BS continues. No time for details, just generalized statements that mask the fact that the summit was by any rational analysis a victory only for Kim Jeong il regime. The Sunshine policy has not resulted in ANY significant change in the North Korean regime nor is there any reason to hope it will do so in the near future.

This is what passes for critical analysis from academia? As usual, not one word of reproach or even caution about a regime that will go down in history as equals with Hitler and Pol Pot. Can this kind of professor really be so naive? Is it just denial?

I'm not big on conspiracy theories, but when I see these progressive types bend over backwards to avoid criticizing such an infamous regime and spewing such blatant bullshit I have to wonder if the Norcs infiltration plans into the South Korean government and institutions aren't a little more successful than we'd like to believe.

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