Cooperation and teamwork, as most of us are taught at a tender age, are desirable behaviors because they are stepping stones to prosperity and happiness. At the national level, this social theory is no less true. No nation in particular would be better served by heeding such advice than North Korea.
Thus, it may be a positive sign that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, has decided to come to the negotiating table once again. Most recently, Kim Jong Il has talked to South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun to discuss possibilities of disarmament and economic cooperation in the Korean Peninsula. What a pity, then, that the two have agreed to these larger principles, yet are taking exceedingly small steps in making them into realities.
Fletcher School Dean and former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Stephen Bosworth admitted when discussing the recent summit with the Daily that the meeting will most likely not be a significant turning point in Korean relations. Rather, it is but another step toward possible reunification.
As Americans who do not shy from meddling in international relations, perhaps the Koreas can be our next target - not for nation building as in Iraq, but for more humanitarian efforts.
Granted, the nuclear issue with North Korea is a touchy one, especially as Kim Jong Il recently agreed to abandon his country's nuclear program in return for aid and oil. Making bold suggestions for improvement might cause Kim Jong Il to retreat back into his long-maintained isolationist foreign policy. Nevertheless, it is America's strength that should allow us, at very least, to examine what might be best for North Korea.
After suffering from widespread flooding, North Korea's agricultural production is in more peril than usual. Increasing humanitarian aid thus could only alleviate a short-term shortage of food and likely would do nothing to improve the economy. Here, we may be able to take a suggestion from history - more specifically the Cold War of which the current North Korea is a product.
When the Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989, swarms of East Germans crossed into the more prosperous West Germany. Only then could the standard of living on both sides be adequately gauged. The result was that East Germany languished for many years, only recently becoming more finely meshed with the industrial western region.
Certainly, it may be a disaster to clear the demilitarized zone separating North Korea's economic sick horse from South Korea's economic bull as Dean Bosworth suggests. Who indeed would choose to live under a dictator such as Kim Jong Il?
Nevertheless, such drastic action may help to improve North Korea faster than slow-moving diplomatic negotiations. Granted, South Korea would not favor such definitive action, yet in the long run, a strengthened and united Korean peninsula may just be in the best interests of everyone.
