DEFYING U.S. AND JAPAN, MOON AND KIM WORK TOWARDS KOREAN UNITY

A formal ending of the 1950-53 Korean conflict is seen in Pyongyang as only the logical start of a process of conciliation, rather than a measure to be kept in abeyance until Kim Jong Un has made himself as helpless as Saddam and Gaddafi after they compli

The diplomatic finesse and flexibility shown by DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un and RoC (Republic of Korea) President Moon Jae-in are steadily, almost stealthily, creating a viable pathway towards the unification of a peninsula and a people divided since 1945. Koreans are an ancient civilisation with over 5,000 years of recorded history, which puts them on par with China, India, Egypt, Greece and the Jewish people. An armed effort at unification began in 1950 by first the North Koreans and was later continued by US-South Korean forces, but ended in stalemate in 1953. Since then, the two sides are still officially in a state of war with each other, only an armistice agreement having been signed at the close of the 1950-53 hostilities. Since then, neither North nor South Korea has actively sought to incorporate the other through the use of force, although tension surrounding the DMZ (demilitarized zone) on the 38th parallel has been constant. Successive administrations in Washington have sought to ensure regime change in the DPRK, focusing particularly on eliminating the ruling Kim family through methods involving “extreme prejudice”, i.e. death. Some South Korean governments have enthusiastically participated in such actions, notably the regimes of Park Chung-hee and later that of his daughter, Park Geun-hye. The latter was later subjected to a politically charged trial and subsequent 24-year sentence of imprisonment that was grossly excessive a punishment. The younger Park (while in office during 2013-2017 as President of the RoC) was an enthusiastic proponent of DPRK regime change through leadership assassination methods, sought through techniques popular within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as well as the (South) Korean CIA. In contrast, her successor Moon Jae-in has over the decades favoured a “Sunshine Policy”, that of Seoul extending an olive branch to Pyongyang and increasing cooperation between the two sides of the Korean peninsula. This was earlier attempted by President Roh Tae-woo (1988-1993) and for a couple of years afterwards by his successor Kim Youngsam, before the latter was forced by President William Jefferson Clinton to abruptly withdraw from the Sunshine Policy after Pyongyang responded with insufficient (and understandable) alacrity to Clinton commands to enforce a unilateral WMD disarmament by Pyongyang on the Iraq model. The Leadership Core in Pyongyang considered every post-1945 government in Seoul (barring in a partial manner that of Roh Tae-woo) a servant of US interests. However, about 16 months ago, Supreme The run-up to the Telangana Assembly elections is turning out to be a battle of perceptions, much before the actual battle is fought, which, however, may or may not be a contest. Congress’ biggest achievement in these elections has been getting a buzz generated about the Mahakutami, the grand alliance of Congress, Telugu Desam Party, CPI and TJAS, portraying it as a serious contender for power, even a possible winner. There is se-