KOREA: GROUND HOG DAY OR REAL CHANGE

INTRODUCTION: In the May 2017 pamphlet I said I was remembering that Bill Murray had to relive his life 35 times before there was real change, and that we were only in the 23rd year of negotiations with North Korea. But I offered a list of possible paths to breakthrough: “an unexpected illness, a sports victory, an accident, an earthquake, spiritual leadership.” I also said that we needed to keep aware that “(1) the USA is interdependent with Korea — North as well as South. (2) Someday all of this will change radically. It is changing in small ways all the time.”

Is the situation changing again right now? As of June 12th, 2018, the Trump and Kim meeting, I am ready to say YES.

Full pamphlet text via the link above. More detailed information about some of the items in the pamphlet below.

Like the previous pamphlet this was a “single issue” piece, inspired by the attempt at peacemaking on the Korea peninsula and the fortunate time linkage between Korea peninsula and the fortunate time linkage between those events and a visit I had planned at the very same time. The photo I used on the cover page: blue korea flag could almost serve as a precis for the entire thing. Blue is the color of the entire Korean nations in the unified flag under which the Koreans sometimes play in international sports. The women holding it are North Korean “cheerleaders” who were sprung into the 2018 Winter Olympics at the last minute and the flag itself shows two small islands which both Koreas assume are Korean. The Japanese also claim ownership of the islands. The next Olympics, summer 2020 are in Tokyo. The only thing missing from the flag is any hint that the DMZ remains in existence.

The HEADLINES section compared a number of stories this year with past stories. These links get you back to the original story. Military Exercises 2016 North Koreans say ending exercises will bring peace 2018 Korea and the USA to start exercises 2018 Trump cancels exercises Nuclear Weapons 2016 China and the Korean nuclear program 2017 Trump starts threatening Korea. China worries 2018 Korean leaders meeting avoid nucs. 2018 Journalists watch the destruction of nuclear testing tunnels. Perhaps? Personalities 2017 Trump belittles Kim Jong Un 2018 Trump calls Kim Jong Un “honorable” 2018 Secretary of State loses his temper with North Korea

The segment on the 11 issues the Koreans need to resolve if they are to make peace draws directly on my book Dangerous Peacemaking. It is now 15 years old but holds up surprisingly well and is still available from various people on Amazon. I see with needless pride, that it has a minimal rarity value: No copies available for $1.00

The segment, NONE OF US IS ALONE makes brief comments about nations that went about dividing and reuniting over the last 100 years. There is no single source that is particularly good about any of those issues. If you want to explore history further, check out the reunification of Austria — a hidden topic these days. If you want to consider issues still with us, explore the Kurdish and Kashmir questions. A recent journey to Taiwan leaves me thinking that if they want to establish that they really have divorced China, they should return the hoard of goods they hold in the National Palace Museum, all of which came originally from the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The segment DEEPER THAN ELECTIONS is structured around ideas which became vivid working in the garden while I was writing this pamphlet. I have turned to gardens and nature to illuminate international relations more than once. On one occasion I wrote a chapter for a book on Global Citizenship basing the entire analysis on cultural differences as manifest in gardens. If you want to explore this further, a close to final copy is attached Gardens and Global Citizenship.

The segment on WOMEN is richest, I feel, in the images on the back page. All those women whose lives are governed by the dynamics of War and Peace on the Korean peninsular and yet precious few of them have any way of personally influencing the outcome of this years efforts. Meanwhile Kim and Moon, so cheerfully holding hands also hold the real influence. The two men holding hands embody what I still consider to be one of the most important insights from the Dangerous Peacemaking book: “JUSTICE, MERCY, MEMORY AND PEACE The bridge—a familiar and appropriate image of peace- making. William Ury, one of America’s leading lights in the practice of complex negotiations, devotes a whole chapter in Getting Past No to building “a golden bridge.” Like many users of this image, he evokes two opponents facing off with a chasm dividing them. Ideally, when they decide to settle their conflict each party approaches from its own side and builds approximately half a bridge towards the other. If the parties can make their partial bridges meet, their conflict is most likely resolved. The bridge I have in mind is quite different. It links a war-ridden past to a more peaceful future. All of its builders, one-time enemies, together must do the construction work on this variety of bridge, starting from the same, war-torn side. When finished, it can take them, in each other’s company, across to a place where, despite recent hostilities, they can jointly establish a new form of peaceful coexistence. But the dangerous past remains very close. The bridge that delivered them to peace is so very easily traversed in the other direction as well, back into war. The risk remains nearby for quite a while.”