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South Korean Vice Minister of Unification Chun Hae-sung gives a briefing about North Korea’s withdrawal from the joint inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Mar. 22. (Yonhap News)
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Withdrawal appears aimed at putting intense pressure on South Korea
On Mar. 22, North Korea withdrew its officials from the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong. The tension that has suffused the Korean Peninsula since the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi concluded without an agreement is now having negative ramifications for inter-Korean relations as well.
The South Korean government discussed what action should be taken during an emergency meeting of the permanent committee of the National Security Council, with Blue House National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong presiding. After attending events including a briefing about strategy for growing the robotics industry in Daegu, South Korean President Moon Jae-in returned to the Blue House in the afternoon where he was reportedly briefed on the outcome of the earlier meeting and discussed possible responses in a meeting with his advisors.
North Korea’s withdrawal of its staff from the liaison office appears to be primarily aimed at putting intense pressure on South Korea to speed up its implementation of inter-Korean agreements on economic cooperation despite the tough sanctions that the US and the UN have imposed on the North. It’s still too soon to tell whether this measure signals a shift in North Korea’s strategic line on dialogue with the US. Whatever North Korea’s intentions, it’s undeniable that the first channel of inter-Korean communication to be open “24 hours a day, 365 days a year” has been jeopardized just 189 days after it opened for business on Sept. 14, 2018.
During an emergency press briefing at the Central Government Complex in Seoul at 4:30 pm on Friday, South Korean Vice Minister of Unification Chun Hae-sung said, “During a meeting between the chief liaison officers from South and North Korea at the inter-Korean liaison office this morning [Mar. 22], the North Koreans notified us that they would be shutting down their half of the liaison office on orders from a superior and then proceeded to leave the building.”
“The North Koreans said it didn’t matter to them whether the South Koreans remained in the office and that they would notify us about practical measures at a later date,” Chun added.
“The government regrets North Korea’s decision to withdrawal and hopes that the North Koreans will swiftly return to the joint liaison office so that it can return to normal operations according to the inter-Korean agreement.”
Among the 69 South Korean officials who are working at the joint liaison office, including support staff and the facility maintenance crew, the South Korean government had 25 officials, a larger contingent than normal, remain at the office to work over the weekend. “We intend for our staff to cross the border and enter the facility as normal on Monday, Mar. 25,” Chun said.
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The inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong. (Hankyoreh archives)
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Liaison office was a main agreement of Panmunjom Declaration
Operating a joint liaison office at Kaesong was one of the main agreements in the Panmunjom Declaration, which was reached on Apr. 27, 2018. As a consequence, North Korea’s notification of its withdrawal from the liaison office on Friday can be taken as a “provisional suspension of the implementation of the Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration,” said Koo Kab-woo, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
But Chun declined to “jump to conclusions about [North Korea’s] intentions” and said that South Korea “doesn’t think this means a revocation of the [inter-Korean] agreement.”
The Blue House remained tight-lipped, making clear the awkwardness of its position. The only thing that Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom would say is that “North Korea’s withdrawal and our response were discussed during the meeting of the National Security Council.”
For the time being, North Korea’s notification of its withdrawal doesn’t mean the complete closure of channels of communication with the South. The North Koreans said that, though they were withdrawing, they wouldn’t mind if the South Korean staff remained, indicating that they would tolerate the operation of the South Korean half of the office. The North also left open the military lines of communication and the liaison channel at Panmunjom.
“Everything but the liaison office [at Kaesong] is currently operating normally, including the military channels,” Chun said.
“If the North Koreans really wanted to pull the plug, they would tell the South Koreans to leave; they wouldn’t announce their departure and leave the South Koreans to their own devices. The North appears to be putting pressure on the South to take all available action,” said Kim Gwang-gil, an attorney with the law firm Jipyong who led the legal affairs team at the Kaesong Industrial Complex for ten years.
Withdrawal notification made through low-level staff, with no written notices
It’s also worth noting the unprecedented informality of the North’s notification of its withdrawal. North Korea delivered the news verbally, through low-level staff at the liaison office. There was no written notification signed by Ri Son-kwon, chairman of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, or by Jon Jong-su, the North Korean director of the liaison office.
This contrasts with how North Korea behaved during prolonged closures of the Kaesong Complex in the past and the complete shutdown more recently. When North Korea temporarily closed the complex in 2013, which ended up lasting 166 days, the news was personally delivered by Kim Yang-gon, then director of North Korea's United Front Department. When it fully shut down the complex in Feb. 11, 2016, the announcement was made in a statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
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South Korean Vice Minister of Unification Chun Hae-sung during his briefing of North Korea’s withdrawal from the joint inter-Korean liaison office at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Mar. 22. (Yonhap News)
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Possible measure to pressure S. Korea into action
Many experts believe that North Korea’s notification of its withdrawal is only intended to put pressure on South Korea. “With South Korea hesitating to move forward with economic cooperation because of the sanctions, North Korea is using this to pressure the South by basically asking what the point is of being at the joint liaison office in Kaesong when there’s nothing to do. This is an extreme expression of distrust and dissatisfaction about how the South is unwilling to put its words into action,” said a former high-level official.
Quite a few experts take this as an expression of skepticism about South Korea’s role as a mediator and facilitator between North Korea and the US. “This means that they no longer count on President Moon to be able to find a compromise in North Korea-US relations,” said former Unification minister Jeong Se-hyun. One major factor here may be whether the closed-door channel between National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and Workers’ Party of Korea United Front Department Director Kim Yong-chol is functioning.
Another important factor in the future of inter-Korean relations is whether North Korea will stop with the withdrawal from the Kaesong liaison office or whether it will take additional action. “The key is whether the North Koreans go back on agreements that they’ve already made and implemented with the South, such as by cutting the military lines of communication,” said a former high-level official.
On Mar. 22, at least, the North didn’t take any additional measures. “We’ll have to see what happens over the weekend,” a government official cautiously said.
Quite a few experts believe that, for the present, North Korea isn’t likely to take additional action that could mean a shift in its strategic line on dialogue with the US. “This won’t go as far as the US,” declared a former high-ranking official.
“North Korea doesn’t seem to have finalized its line on either the US or South Korea,” said Koo Kab-woo, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
But Cho Sung-ryul, former senior research fellow for the Institute for National Security Strategy, offered a different prediction. “There’s a possibility that Chairman Kim Jong-un will soon declare that he’s suspending denuclearization talks with the US.”
By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Kim Bo-hyeop, Noh Ji-won and Park Min-hee, staff reporters
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
