'Reduce NK threat before signing peace treaty'
This is the third in a series of interviews with international experts on the Korean Peninsula to discuss key issues at the upcoming inter-Korean summit slated for April 27. ― ED.
By Kim Jae-kyoung
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| Tara O |
She urged Moon to raise this issue at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held at the border village of Panmunjeom, Friday.
"Unless there are concrete measures to reduce the threat, the signing of a peace treaty is premature and only makes South Korea more vulnerable," O said in an interview.
"Besides, North Korea does not even want to sign a peace treaty with South Korea; it wants to sign it with the U.S."
O's advice came after President Moon said last week he was optimistic about signing a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the Korean War.
She suggested Moon make detailed requests to Kim, such as moving the North's artillery away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), destroying its chemical and biological weapons, reducing its military forces and changing its official goal of unifying the entire Korean Peninsula under its rule.
She called any peace treaty without a reduction of military threats "a trap."
"It's not about peace. It's about doing away with the justification for the U.S. troop presence in South Korea, because their mission is to deter, and if that doesn't work, then defend the South and defeat the North," she said.
O, an expert on North Korea, is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who worked on numerous assignments in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including the Pentagon and U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC).
She stressed the keyword for the upcoming summit is not "denuclearization," but the "words following it."
O said it is important to be aware that what the North's recalcitrant leader wants is not denuclearization of North Korea but of the entire Korean Peninsula.
"In that case, it is not about North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons. It is Kim wanting the U.S. nuclear umbrella and other capabilities to leave not only South Korea, but also the region," she said.
O, the author of "Collapse of North Korea: Challenges, Planning and Geopolitics of Korean Unification," thinks even denuclearization of the region won't suffice for Kim because he wants a "guarantee" of regime security.
She explained the Kim family regime is inherently insecure because it rules by fear and information monopoly.
"If people (in North Korea) had the choice, they would prefer freedom. Thus the very existence of South Korea, a successful and free country, is a threat," she said.
"As such, the system cannot feel secure enough to give up its nuclear weapons or anything else it feels it needs in order to destroy the competition and sustain the regime."
The former editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Korean Studies also said Moon should stand by the principles of freedom and human rights.
"Human rights items should be on the agenda, even a single aspect of it, such as giving people the freedom to travel from one town to the next without permits or the fear of arrest," she said.
"Moon can also discuss the return of Korean War veterans who have been held in North Korea for 65 years."