송종환 / Misunderstanding the Korean War and the security crisis

송종환 전 주파키스탄 대사

작가 한강은 지난 10월 7일 뉴욕타임스에 "미국이 전쟁을 말하면 한국은 몸서리를 친다. 승리로 끝나는 전쟁 시나리오는 없다 (While the U. S. talks of war, South Korea Shudders. There is no war scenario that ends in victory." 제목의 글을 기고하였습니다.

그녀는 1950~1953년에 있은 한국전쟁은 열강의 대리전이라고 하면서 트럼프 대통령이 전쟁과 관련하여 하는 막말로 촉발될 가능성이 커지고 있는 제2 한국전쟁을 막아야 한다고 주장했습니다.

스탈린의 감독, 지휘와 모책동의 참전 결심으로 김일성이 남침하자 한반도의 자유와 평화를 지키기 위한 유엔 안보리의 결의에 의거하여 60개국이 우리를 도운 6. 25 전쟁을 열강의 대리전이라고 하면서 오늘날 한반도의 안보위기 책임이 그 동안 핵 폐기 합의를 위반하고 핵, 미사일 등 대량살상무기를 개발하여 우리와 미국을 위협하는 북한보다 미국에 있다는 그녀의 주장은터무니 없습니다.

국문 번역도 추후 올리겠지만 저의 코리아 헤랄드 영문 기고 기사를 올리니 국내외 강호의 페친 여러분들이 많이 공유하여 전파하여 주시기 바랍니다.

저는 기사 끝에 오늘날 당면한 한반도 핵 위기에 대한 대책으로 \'공포의 균형\'에 입각한 한스 모겐소의 지론에 따라 전술핵무기 재배치를 포함한 대책들을 제시하면서 이번 11웧 7-8일 도날드 트럼프 대통령의 방한에 즈음한 한미정상회담이북한핵 위기 해결 계기가 될 것을 기원한다는 간절한 마음을 적었습니다.

이례적으로 1000 단어가 넘는 제 글을 기고 이틀 후 바로 채택, 게재하여 준 코리아 헤랄드 측에 감사드립니다. 저의 간절한 마음이 전달된 것 같습니다.

사족으로 이 글을 NYT에 기고하였으나 트럼프 대통령 방한 전에 게재가
되지 않을 것 같아 코리아 헤랄드에 기고한 사정이 있었음을 붙입니다.

[Song Jong-hwan]

Misunderstanding the Korean War and the security crisis
By Korea Herald Published : Oct 26, 2017 - 17:32
Updated : Oct 26, 2017 - 17:32

Korea has recently been experiencing instability due to an extreme divide in national opinion. Despite the fact that North Korea’s nuclear missiles are pointed directly at South Koreans’hearts, they appear unusually calm. There is nothing close to fervent discussion on military readiness against the potential attack. Rather, anti-war factions increasingly emphasize the devastation of war and even ruthlessly criticize the US, which has assisted South Korea greatly in the field of security.

A good example is a recent article in the New York Times on Oct. 7 titled "While the US talks of war, South Korea Shudders. There is no war scenario that ends in victory"by South Korean writer Han Kang. Her article stated that the 1950-1953 Korean War was a proxy of the great powers and that we must stop a second proxy war, which may be spurred by President Donald Trump’s blunt war-related remarks.

WhileI agree with her assertion that no one living on the Korean Peninsula should ever have to suffer the ravages of war once again, I am deeply perturbed by her ignorance regarding the Korean War and the current security crisis.

It seems to me that the authorwas either poorly educated on this subject in school, or while pursuing to be a novelist, she was influenced by the pro-North Korean sentiment that is currently on the rise in South Korea.

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, at 4 a.m., on the orders of North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung. Without any declaration of war, the North Korean military invaded South Korea through the 38th parallel that divided the Korean Peninsula.

In accordance with the resolution of the UN Security Council to protect freedom and peace on the Korean Peninsula, 16 countries including the US provided military forces, five countries gave medical support, 32 countries provided material support, and seven countries participated in postwar recovery. We Koreans will never forget it and will always be thankful to the United Nations and all 60 participant countries for this.

The origins of the Korean War have been studied by a number of scholars at home and abroad. North Korea and communist countries have been strengthening the false propaganda that the Korean War was a counterattack against a South Korean invasion.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia under President Boris Yeltsin declassified secret documents on the Korean War in 1992. From autumn 1993, the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars translated these declassified documents into English and started to publish them under the name of the Cold War International History Project. These documents revealed that North Korea invaded South Korea under the orders of Joseph Stalin, Soviet military advisers’military operation plan, and with the military support of the Chinese communist army.

Therefore the Korean War is definitely neither a proxy war between the great powers nor a civil war as President Moon Jae-in said in his UN General Assembly speech last September. Instead, it was a North Korean invasion with Soviets’ lead and communist Chinese military assistance.

North Korea previously stated that it had neither the will nor the ability to develop nuclear bombs. Yet while North Korea was consecutively negotiating from the 1990s with South Korea, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US and five countries at the six-party talks, it continued to develop nuclear and missile capabilities, which now threaten not only Seoul but also Washington. From Oct. 9, 2006 to Sept. 3 this year, North Korea tested nuclear bombs six times, and from April 9, 1984 to Sept. 15 this year, it tested missiles more than 100 times.

In her New York Times article, Han Kang made no mention of North Korea’s provocative acts in engendering the precarious security situation on the Korean Peninsula, nor did she place any responsibility on North Korea for its bellicose actions. She seems to be imagining that we can overcome the current dangerous situation through quiet candlelight vigils and proposing dialogue with North Korea.

On. Oct. 19, 2017, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said North Korea could be months away from perfecting the ability to strike the US with nuclear weapons. We must consider different options to deter the threat of North Korean weapons of mass destruction, according to Hans Morgenthau’s lesson. In his book "Politics Among Nations" (1973), Morgenthau said "if the threatened nation has no nuclear means of retaliation, it will either suffer total destruction or surrender unconditionally."

Should we carry candles, sing for peace and beg North Korea for dialogue until the moment North Korean nuclear bombs drop on the heartlands of both South Korea and the US? We need dialogue with North Korea to seek the best policy to solve the nuclear issue, but at the moment we should prepare to deter increasing North Korean military provocations.

Based on the Republic of Korea-US alliance, the South Korean military should be equipped with defense capabilities and should be ready with mental fortitude. South Korea must unite its citizens and strengthen its capacity to both defend itself and to counterattack in case of any North Korean adventurism. At the same time, South Korea should discuss with the US the implementation of more detailed and extended military deterrence against North Korea, including the reintroduction of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea.

President Donald Trump’s visit to South Korea from Nov. 7-8 will take the form of a state visit, marking the first by a US state head since 1992. Koreans are welcoming him and looking forward to having a positive outcome to enhance the alliance between the two countries and joint efforts to end the North Korean nuclear issue from the summit conference with President Moon Jae-in.

Song Jong-hwan, a former South Korean ambassador to Pakistan, is chair professor at the department of international relations at Kyungnam University. ? Ed.