President Park Geun-hye recently addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress after a meeting with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday. In her speech the newly-elected first female president of South Korea vowed that provocations from the North will be “met decisively.”But Seoul also wants to build a trusting relationship with Pyongyang and has proposed that a park be constructed on the DMZ or the Demilitarized Zone. She expounded on this recommendation during her speech to the American legislators.
An international peace park at the DMZ
According to President Park Geun-hye, the DMZ must “live up to its name.” It is intended to be a zone that fortifies peace. The DMZ is the “last Cold War frontier,” according to the President Park. She is hoping that with this effort, the international park would be sending a message of peace to their communist neighbor and to all of humanity. The Kaesong industrial Park is the most visible representative of cooperative effort between South Korea and North Korea but this industrial complex has been suspended in the light of recent provocations from Pyongyang. An international park located within the DMZ could serve as a catalyst to end the perennial cycle of crisis in the region.
However, President Park told the members of the US Senate and House of Representative that Seoul would insist that North Korea responds to this call first in order to build trust. She said that they have a saying in Korea that it takes two hands to clap. Ms. Park has widely discussed her strategy of “trustpolitik” in order to establish a cordial relationship with North Korea during her campaign for the presidency.
A message of solidarity
In her first official overseas trip as the President of her country, Ms. Park and President Obama together showed that the United States and South Korea are sending a message of solidarity to the world amidst threats from North Korea. Analysts say that this strategy by the South Korean President – solidarity with the United States coupled with openness to a dialogue with Pyongyang, is an effort to eliciting change from the North.
In her address to the US lawmakers, the conservative leader of South Korea explained that she intends very small peace steps such as a symbolic park at the DMZ to be the start of a broader initiative towards peace in Northeast Asia. Recently, tensions have been rising between China and Japan adding to the already intense six decades of tension between the two Koreas.
Peace steps
Pres. Park declared that the stakeholders in Northeast Asia cannot afford to put off a multilateral dialogue anymore. She suggested deeper cooperation on matters such as disaster relief and environmental issues.
Pres. Park suggested that the Northeast Asian countries can start the process with these issues with the help of the United States and eventually include North Korea in the discussion when it is ready to do so. The rationale for this, according to President Park is that finding where their interests overlap at the start would lead to easier cooperation and common stakes on bigger and more complicated issues.
Photo Credit: Pres. Park Geun-hye of South Korea
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