North-South Korea deal met with skepticism

Some Korean Canadians are worried Kim Jong Un is tricking world leaders

Rocky Kim has seen the smiles and handshakes between North Korean dictators and foreign government leaders before, and every time, he has been disappointed when nothing changes.

So the Toronto businessman shook his head looking at photos of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in warm embrace Friday after they signalled their intention to end hostilities between their neighbouring countries.

“This is just ridiculous,” says Kim, who sought asylum in Canada from Pyongyang in 2007. “This is just a show. They have done it so many times, but nothing has changed. This is just another attempt for Kim Jong Un to buy time to extend his regime’s lifespan.”

While Kim has his doubts about the peace declaration, others in Canada’s 200,000strong Korean community are cautiously optimistic that the agreement will pave a way for real peace in the peninsula.

“They both pledged for peace on the peninsula and North Korea agreed to denuclearization. This is beyond all diplomatic gestures,” said Tina Park, an expert on inter-Korean relationships and executive director of the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect at the University of Toronto.

Park said she understands why some Koreans remain skeptical, but “Kim is different than his father (previous leader Kim Jong Il). He has the aspiration to modernize the North Korean economy. He is smarter and younger, and was able to have a very candid discussion with Moon … They now have the framework and must hash out the timeline and details of implementation.”

Toronto lawyer Jack Kim sees the declaration as a good sign. “Six months ago, no one would have thought we would be here today,” said Kim, who heads HanVoice, a Toronto-based non-profit for North Korean human rights and refugees.

Some in the Korean-Canadian community, he says, are fearful that Pyongyang is just using the talks as a stalling tactic to develop better weapons.

Rocky Kim is one of those. He’s upset, he says, because foreign leaders are buying into Kim Jong Un’s ruse.

“They are so naive. Things are the same under Kim Jong Un, his father and his grandfather. It is the system. They just repeat the cycle every time.”