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The truth about meeting Kim
Jong-il
By Richard Hanson
TOKYO - The truth is that meeting North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il is no longer going to be fun.
This is not because he is no longer an enigmatic
leader-for-life of a very poor but well-armed country
that is still at war with the allies that his father
attacked decades ago. Japan was at war with the former
Soviet Union for decades, and they found a lot of things
in common. They at least had diplomatic relations and
could relax.
The reason is that when Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Kim, the Dear
Leader finally told the truth about things that the
world already knew were true. One is that North Korea is
desperate to normalize relations with other countries,
preferably those with money.
The other involved
a bitter truth that North Korea did indeed abduct
innocent Japanese men, women, and children for reasons
that are not clear. Of the 11 that were taken away, only
four are said to be alive. Kim apologized for this and
said the perpetrators had been punished.
That
was a sort of defining moment for Kim. He was telling
the truth, but it did little to ease the shock for the
families whose children and relatives went missing many
years ago. It also made it very difficult for Koizumi to
take much comfort from disclosures of other matters
involving the security of Northeast Asia.
These
were the concessions from North Korea on extending a
moratorium on missile testing beyond next year. North
Korea will also live up to an agreement reached in 1994
and accept inspections of its nuclear facilities.
The US, the chief non-Korean combatant in the
Korean War, put the country on its "axis of evil" list
over suspicions North Korea could be developing nuclear
weapons. What the Koizumi-Kim meeting should raise an
alarm about is whether Kim knows about such things, even
if they are true.
For Japan, the meeting did
mark a landmark between the two countries. World leaders
and editorial writers alike praised this. The agreements
that were reached demonstrated "courage and sincerity"
of the two leaders, said a Beijing-backed Hong Kong
newspaper, Ta Kung Pao.
The next step is to
resume bilateral talks next month that concern
"normalization" of relations between the two countries.
Relations with South Korea were set straight in 1965,
but the two capitalist neighbors continue to have touchy
times when Japan offends Korean sensibilities.
There has been a noticeable warming of relations
since the two jointly held the World Cup soccer games in
June. Petty restrictions were lifted and both sides
enjoyed the competition - South Korea in particular,
since its team nearly went all the way to victory (a
North Korean team was the first Asian team to make it to
the World Cup in 1965 and performed well).
The
two Koreas do share the common bad experience of having
been made a part of Japan early in the 20th century
(1912-45). When Japan and South Korea opened relations
there was a hefty financial package to ease the way.
During the meeting on Tuesday, Koizumi offered the same
apology for Japan's past behavior that has been made to
the South.
A not particularly cynical view is
that North Korea wants better relations with Japan for
financial aid it desperately needs. The four-hour summit
meeting - Koizumi boarded a plane for Pyongyang on
Tuesday morning and arrived back at Tokyo's Haneda
International Airport the evening of the same day -
underscored for people in both countries how close they
are.
North Korea can already hit Japanese
territory with its Rodong-1 ballistic missile. Four
years ago, North Korea made the missile threat crystal
clear by launching a Taepodong missile over Japanese
territory. Freezing missile tests is one issue,
exporting missiles to other "evil" countries is another
real threat that the US takes seriously. Any inkling of
a threat would almost certainly bring a US reaction.
It is anybody's guess whether North Korea will
live up to the still limited accords that were reached
during the summit. Koizumi has a long-term interest in
improving relations and lessening tensions. He has high
hopes of staying in office for some time in the future.
Political pundits are dissecting his performance.
But there is no amount of political bumf that
can surmount the emotion that ran through Japan when the
news broke of the fate of the abductees. Information is
still sketchy even as to the state of those who are
alive.
That's where geopolitics is reduced to
the face of a mother who weeps after years of faith that
a dead daughter gone missing might still have been
alive. People need closure when grief strikes. Nations
too. That is why meeting Kim Jong-il is no longer fun.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights
reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
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