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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 22 - 28 June 2000 Issue No. 487
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Focus Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Two peas in a pod
By Faiza Rady
History was made in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) when South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung arrived in the North Korean capital Pyongyang last Tuesday for a three-day summit with his socialist counterpart, DPRK leader Kim Jong II. After five long decades of bitter enmity, following the 1950-53 Korean War -- which formally ended with an armistice, rather than a peace treaty -- reconciliation between the two Koreas became a reality and eventual reunification was palpable.
At the airport, schoolchildren sang "Our Wish is Unification" -- one of the rare official anthems sung in both Koreas. Noting that national reunification was a priority on his political agenda, DPRK leader Kim Yong II said that his father, Kim II Sung, had aspired to reunify the two Koreas throughout his life. In fact, Kim II Sung had agreed in 1994 to meet his South Korean counterpart Kim Young-Sam for a North-South summit, but he died at age 82, only weeks before the scheduled meeting. "Kim II Sung took to heart the nation's misfortune resulting from division more than anything else," Kim Yong II told Kim Dae-Jung.
The South Korean president concurred. As a refugee from the North, Dae-Jung fled his native village of Ogun as a youth in January 1951, leaving his parents, grandparents, two brothers and a sister behind. Like 7.6 million South Koreans -- about 15 per cent of the population -- Dae-Jung has family and strong emotional ties in the North.
Since assuming office, Dae-Jung has in effect made normalisation with the North a cornerstone of his political programme. "A new age has dawned for our nation. We have reached a turning-point, so we can put an end to the history of territorial division of 55 years. There is no longer going to be any war. The North will no longer attempt unification by force and... we will not do any harm to the North," pledged a euphoric Dae-Jung.
Following three days of intense high-level meetings, the two sides concluded the summit last Thursday with a historic North-South agreement, which stipulates plans for a projected confederation -- laying the groundwork for the eventual reunification of the two countries. The two sides also agreed to facilitate family reunions, and -- more to the point -- promote economic development between the two Koreas.
While the South Koreans are emphasising their laudable intentions to "help" their cash-strapped and drought-ravaged neighbour, reality is not quite as clear-cut as defined by the South. "The help will not run one-way. In reality, South Korea will be helping itself as well," explained political analyst Meredith Woo-Cumings.
Despite glowing reports of South Korea's brilliant rebound from the 1997/98 disastrous Asian economic crisis, things are not as rosy as they are made to seem.
The productive edge of South Korean industry lies in sectors that compete with China and Japan for a shrinking share of the regional and the global markets: cars, electronics, construction, machine- and ship-building, and iron and steel.
Since the stock market crash, South Korea has grappled with a serious crisis of overproduction as a result of retrenching regional markets that are still plagued by encroaching recession. "The partial recovery of South Korea is quite feeble in comparison to the past. Unemployment remains high and there are still huge stocks of unsold goods," notes economist Alan Woods.
Adding fuel to the fire, the current eight per cent unemployment level will soar to unprecedented levels should South Korea implement International Monetary Fund requirements of sacking an additional 20 to 30 per cent of its allegedly redundant work force.
Investing in the North would evidently be cost effective in terms of production and labour, in addition to opening up a brand new market. Moreover, North Korea ranks among the globe's most highly educated nations, with an equal literacy rate of 99 per cent for both males and females -- a rare achievement worldwide.
Attracted by a highly educated, efficient and conveniently cheap labour force, South Korea has already 600 companies trading with the North, and more than 150 companies with contracts to produce textiles, shoes, televisions, computer monitors and cars in the North, reported Woo-Cumings.
The DPRK is also in dire need to do business with the South, and establish regional and global trade links. Since the collapse of North Korea's main trading partners, the socialist bloc and particularly the Soviet Union, North Korea has suffered the devastating consequences of the US embargo. According to CIA estimates, the country's total economic production has fallen drastically since 1991, perhaps by as much as one half. Throttled by the US embargo, North Korea has been unable to raise the hard currency necessary to purchase much-needed agricultural hardware and fertilisers.
Despite the fact that Washington signed an agreement with the DPRK to partially lift trade sanctions in exchange for a North Korean nuclear programme freeze in October 1994, the Clinton administration has failed to deliver. As in the case of "rogue countries" like Cuba, Libya and Iraq among others, the US boycott has meant international trade isolation since Washington threatens other countries with sanctions should they break the terms of the embargo.
Meanwhile, a catastrophe of another kind looms ahead.
A long spell of drought and heat has damaged crops on hundreds of thousands of hectares, reported the DPRK on Friday.
Previously ravaged by subsequent droughts and floods in 1995 and1996, which destroyed some two million tons of grain and damaged 400,000 hectares of cropland, the country's agricultural industry is in shambles. Between 1994 and 1998, widespread famine and disease has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. According to some estimates as many as one million may have died and tens of thousands of children are malnourished.
Since the droughts and floods hit the country, the government has enlisted the army to assist farm workers. Provincial authorities have also helped the government raise much-needed hard currency, made scarce by the American trade boycott clamped on this embattled socialist country. Local authorities collect scrap iron, sell it to neighbouring countries and use the proceeds to buy food for the people. The level of agricultural activity is intense, every scrap of land is being used. The North Koreans are lauded for their ingenuity in facing conditions of extreme duress.
Yet, despite the dramatic food shortages, international observers have been impressed by the fair distribution of government rations, which they attribute to the egalitarian quality of the country's socialist regime.
Other commentators praised the people's discipline, hard work and courage, a result of the Koreans' rigorous training.
Following last week's historic summit and the end of regional isolation, the North Koreans' courage may after all be ultimately rewarded.
