China News Agency Paju, June 15 Question: North Korea's tough "shouts" against South Korea The situation on the peninsula is making waves again

　　China News Agency reporter Zeng Nai

　　The 15th is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the "North-South Joint Declaration", and the situation on the peninsula has once again made waves.

　　In June 20 years ago, the South Korean and Korean heads held their first meeting after the Korean War, which was regarded as the first step in reconciliation. Since then, Peninsula relations have experienced many twists and turns. After the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, relations between South Korea and North Korea entered the "honeymoon period", but after the meeting between the heads of North Korea and the United States in Hanoi in 2019, the denuclearization talks again stalled.

　　The reporter saw at the Linjin Pavilion on the border of South Korea and Korea on the 15th that the newly built sightseeing cable car was operating normally, but the number of tourists was scarce; the many walking routes that the South Korean side first launched in the demilitarized zone last year were temporarily closed. Affected by the epidemic, the border tourist area is extremely deserted.

In 2019, South Korea opened its first walking tour of the Korean-DPRK demilitarized zone to the public. The picture shows that tourists are experiencing a walking tour, surrounded by barbed wire around the trail. China News Service reporter Zeng Nashe

　　Korea-DPRK relations are also getting colder. In early June, North Korea criticized "North Korean defectors" for distributing anti-DPRK leaflets from South Korea to North Korea, saying that the South Korean authorities who condoned them should deeply reflect on the seriousness and devastating consequences of the situation. Subsequently, the DPRK stated that it would convert its work toward South Korea into "work against the enemy" and cut off all communication lines between North Korea and South Korea.

　　In response, the Blue House of the Presidential Palace of South Korea "deeply regrets", saying that it will severely punish the distribution of anti-DPRK leaflets. The Ministry of National Unification and the Ministry of National Defense stated that they will continue to implement the agreement between the ROK and the DPRK.

　　However, South Korea's position failed to quell the dispute. Zhang Jinzhe, head of the United Front Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, publicly stated that the North Korean trust in the Korean authorities has completely disappeared. The first deputy minister of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Yo-jung, said that the DPRK will take the next phase of action against South Korea.

　　Why does North Korea frequently take a hard line?

　　Over the years, North Korea has reacted strongly to South Korea’s anti-DPRK flyers. In 2014, Korean civil society organizations used hot air balloons to distribute anti-DPRK leaflets, which caused firepower between the two sides. When South Korea and North Korea signed the "Panmendian Declaration" and military agreement in 2018, they announced that all hostilities would cease at the border. According to public opinion analysis, this time North Korea believes that South Korea has violated the agreement first.

Data Map: South Korean President Wen Jae-in. Photo courtesy of Qingwatai

　　South Korean officials consider themselves "reasonable." Qingwatai said that distributing anti-DPRK leaflets violates South Korea's "North-South Exchange and Cooperation Law", "Public Water Law" and "Aviation Safety Law" and other laws, and does not comply with the agreement signed by South Korea and North Korea.

　　But the flyer incident was only a fuse. "North Korea is taking the opportunity to pressure South Korea and shout to the United States." Wang Sheng, a professor at the Department of International Politics at the Jilin University School of Administration and a visiting scholar at the Asia Institute of Korea University in South Korea, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that North Korea has had relations with North Korea and South Korea. High expectations, but in the past two years, there has been no progress in Mount King Kong tourism and North-South railway cooperation; affected by the epidemic and the US election, the DPRK-US negotiations have been interrupted.

　　Wang Sheng believes that North Korea is releasing the signal "negotiations cannot be delayed indefinitely."

　　Kim Jun Heng, president of the South Korean National Diplomatic Academy, also said that North Korea’s accumulated dissatisfaction with the United States and South Korea makes anti-DPRK flyers an excuse.

　　Since the beginning of this year, the stalemate in the Peninsula Dialogue has continued. Although during the epidemic, Chairman Kim Jong-un of the North Korean State Council once sent a letter to South Korean President Wen Jae-in "compassionate condolences," cooperation between the ROK and the DPRK almost stopped. In May, a South Korean post in the Korean-DPRK demilitarized zone was hit by a North Korean fired bullet. North Korea condemned South Korea’s joint air and sea military exercises in the western waters of North Korea as "seriously provocative."

　　Public opinion in South Korea is worried that the situation on the peninsula is "returning to its origin." Yonhap News Agency pointed out that the saw-saw pattern of relations between South Korea and North Korea will become the norm and face the crisis of returning to opposition. "Han Minzu Daily" pointed out that the relationship between Korea and North Korea is at a major crossroads; the two sides should not pursue it to the end, nor are they the targets of "hostile work".

　　"The Korean-Korean relations have a foundation for continued development." Wang Sheng analyzed that the Korean-Korean relations have been advancing through twists and turns for more than half a century, and South Korea's "progressive" forces advocating a policy of reconciliation and cooperation with the DPRK were elected in the previous parliamentary elections. The victory means that South Korea’s policy toward the DPRK will continue without “reversing”.

　　He believes that neither the ROK nor the DPRK should proceed from subjective will, excessively pressure the other party, and consider the complexity of the issue; the parties to the DPRK nuclear issue cannot ignore North Korea’s demands, otherwise the DPRK may take further action. "We must not rush to achieve success, we must steadily advance the development of relations between all parties and build an early peace system on the peninsula." (End)