Comparative Connections v.12 n.2 - North Korea-South Korea Relations

This was the worst quarter in inter-Korean relations of the near-decade that Comparative Connections has been covering this relationship. On the rare occasions when the peninsula makes global headlines it tends not to be good news. Thus it was on May 24-25, when the world seriously wondered whether the two Koreas might go to war. It was a perilous moment and although it now seems to have passed, it leaves North-South relations in a pit from which no easy exit is apparent. As of early July, with ROK President Lee Myung-bak still smarting from an unexpected rebuff in local elections, one must conclude that North Korea’s torpedo scored a bulls-eye. Despite delivering a remarkable economic recovery and chairing the G20, “bulldozer” Lee is now on the back foot: just as Kim Jong-il intended. It was nasty and negative, but it worked. In Pyongyang’s eyes, this counts as a win – even though from any sensible perspective it is a loss for both Koreas, and their relations.