Reflections on Two Presentations

[Maria Blake]

         The videos I watched were two for this first discussion forum. The first one was what all of us had to watch with Dr. Jung-Kim, and the second one was because I missed attending the live forum,  which was about the predictable unpredictability of North Korea, specifically, in the context of the new political dynamics that developed with the new leadership in North Korea and the U.S. There are some interesting takeaways from the two presentations, particularly, as they relate to North Korea, which is a country that has alienated itself from the world due to its communistic monarchy. The unknowability about North Korea sparked this interest in learning more about it through the video presentations.

            In the first presentation with Dr. Jung-Kim, one of the takeaways was that North Korea has been divided from South Korea ever since the end of the WWII, and particularly the Korean War. That the two countries are not united speaks to the fact that the war has not ended between the two countries, which I did not know. Both countries have mandatory the service by able-bodied men, which suggests the high priority placed on  safety and security in case there is a threat of an attack, or a need for defense.  

            Furthermore, one of the highlights from the presentation with Dr. Jacques Fuqua corroborates what Dr. Jung-Kim said before, that is, that   Koreans  put a high premium on their military for either aggressive, or defensive reasons. The assumption that predominates, though, is that the threat for a nuclear war exists mostly with North Korea, a country that seeks to achieve its stature in the world as a nuclear powerhouse so as to maintain its independence from China,  Japan, or western countries, and also  to achieve its “autonomous self-identity,” the “Juche,” pronounced /tsuse/.  There is obviously a pressure from China and Japan for North Korea to conform to agendas,  but North Korea has  managed to gain some  independence with the adoption of the title as one of the major nuclear powerhouses  in the world that produces nuclear weapons for itself and for other countries. North Korea has other weapons of mass destructions, as do other major economic powers such as China and the U.S. 

            It is unsettling to think that North Korea would think nuclear weapons is the solution to independence. Dr. Fuqua claims that it would be really hard to dissuade North Korea from continuing with the production of nuclear weapons, since the only two solutions that could exist, economic sanctions, or accepting North Korea as a nuclear power, do not eliminate the potential threat of a nuclear weapon use in a potential future conflict. If used in South Korea the destruction would be devastating, Dr. Fuqua supports,  because of  the high density of cities and the potential use of other weapons such as chemical and biological weapons. 

            Finally, there is hope that peace will always preside over any political dialogue, because North Korea wants to have relations with its allies of Russia and China. The fear of nuclear weapon use, though, exists as a threat and it was interesting to see that being suggested in the two presentations, but mostly in the second presentation. 

Resources Consulted:

5 Things to Know about Korea. 

Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Jung-Kim 

 

North Korea: A Predictable Unpredictability (9/19/2017)
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/3151256785799706625
Presenter: Jacques Fuqua, author