A Korean's view of Korea

By Hu Hyuk Lee

Many Korean residents in America and some Americans were astounded to hear a Korean college man say "Bush is more dangerous than North Korean leader Kim Jong Il" during an interview on the CBS show "60 Minutes."

It is hard to say that he represents all of the political opinions in Korea. But there is no doubt that people like him have started to join the mainstream of political circles in Korea, at least after the 2002 presidential election.

For instance, the majority of the next presidential staff is made up of the so-called 386 generation. The 386 generation got its name during the 1990s not only because it used computers equipped with 386 central processing units, but also because members of that generation were in their 30s during the 1990s, and they had demonstrated against the military regime during the 1980s.

The viewpoint of the 386 generation about both the North Korea nuclear crisis and the relationship between South Korea and the United States seems to be contrary to the view of the conservative camp, which is composed mainly of older generations and had a majority in the National Assembly and had been in power before the current government.

The 386 generation asserts that North Korea lived inside a completely closed box for about 50 years after World War II. Its government initially tried to isolate North Korea from the Free World, and it lost a way out.

Not only do the North Koreans not know what the reality of outside the box is, but also nobody outside the country knows what it looks like inside the box. Therefore, any hasty military intervention without long-term perspectives might result in unexpected reaction.

When we consider that it is about 8 hours' driving distance between Seoul and Pyongyang (the capital of North Korea), even limited warfare might bring terrible results to both North Korea and South Korea, which is the last situation even the conservative camp can imagine.

The solution which the 386 generation proposes is to keep up financial aid and sincere efforts both to draw North Korea from its closed box and to get into the box in order to understand the North Koreans.

The hard-line policy of the Bush administration is not helpful in solving North Korea's nuclear crisis. Besides, the 386 generation believes that SOFA (the administrative agreement between South Korean army and the U.S. military) is unfair and that it is time for change.

The 386 generation also blames the conservative camp for what is called the Kangaroo Complex (a baby kangaroo stays in the mother kangaroo's pouch even after it grows up enough to survive) and for the dependency on U.S. military power.

The conservative camp criticizes the perspective of the 386 generation and blames the 386 generation for its idealistic attitude ignoring realities.

The conservative camp insists that South Korea needs a short-term and practical solution instead of an excessive long-term view. The conservatives doubt North Korea's willingness to accept any possible open-door policy. The conservative camp insists that North Korea has broken too many promises and believes any further financial aid without confirming that the Pyongyang government does not use it for munitions is a waste of the national treasury. The conservatives believe that it will be too late when North Korea develops a nuclear weapon and that prompt action is needed, even though they also cannot offer a short-term and practical solution. Furthermore, they argue that the emotional anti-U.S. movement that has spread through the younger generation recently is not desirable, not merely because of a military consideration, but also because of an economic consideration.

Now bitter debates are held among the 386 generation, the conservative camp and people supporting each side. They still face difficulties in finding an agreement. It seems like a never-ending story.

I too do not have any exact answer about the North Korean nuclear crisis. But I believe we could find some cues from my favorite American movie, "The Negotiator," which starred Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Our viewpoints need to be changed. It is not a devil-angel or black-white matter. It is a hostage situation, North Korean government holds hostages (its own people and South Korea). South Korea definitely needs a fully armed police force, and South Korea still needs a maverick negotiator to do his best to rescue hostages until the very last moment.

Note: I fully understand the Americans' grief about the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Any kind of terrorism must be exterminated. But I wish the Americans could recognize that I worry also about my family in the Korean peninsula, and it is much smaller than you imagine.

Hu Hyuk Lee of Dae-Gu City, South Korea, is a graduate student at Southeast Missouri State University where he will receive a master's of business administration degree in the spring. He also is completing an internship at the Southeast Missourian.