"Discuss a Political Issue of Your Interest"

Freshman year, my first year in America, a remarkable number of people had misconceptions about its political identity and asked me whether I was from North or South Korea, to which I replied, “erm, South?” trying hard to figure out whether they were joking or not. Everyone around me was amazed by the fact that I lived right next to North Korea, which they had only seen on CNN as the nuclear troublemaker.

Over the next two years, I realized that the way America treats North Korea was quite unbalanced. The division and unification of Germany was among the most discussed themes in history classes, with the comprehensive discussion providing background knowledge for students. On the other hand, textbooks contained only a few sentences regarding its current Stalinist regime, while news coverage reported its nuclear development and American politicians’ attempts at halting it in depth but showed close to no consideration of its neighbor, South Korea.

However ignored it is, as the blood relative and bordering nation, South Korea holds the key to geographic, political, and economic access to North Korea. The two countries’ relationship is nothing like the relationship between any other two countries today, standing as the last of ideologically separated nations. The direction of the overall South Korean policy toward North Korea can imperil or settle the precarious balance of power of the entire world.

I am one of the 45 million citizens of South Korea whose lives are most directly affected by the way South Korea and the world confront North Korea. Economically, a significant amount of the tax paid by South Koreans goes to defense budget and the economic aid projects initiated as part of the “sunshine policy” in the 1990s. In fact, my family will suffer a loss when my brother serves the required two year in the military and cannot contribute to his own college fund. The risk he is personally taking by serving includes two unwanted gap years and subsequent difficulty in continuing college education. Whenever North Korea stages a show to the globe by testing its missiles, it is no entertainment to the drafted troops, who are immediately put on combat preparation mode. These drafted troops include the brothers, cousins, and friends of most people I know.

Regarding foreign policy, I prefer the “sunshine” direction with more weight on aid for the people than hard-line pressure, especially considering that communist regimes have generally failed to survive for a long time and that Kim Jong Il’s health is not in a good shape. It is also an investment for the future, in case the North Korean government falls and South Korea has to take the economic burden, which would be huge even in comparison to the economic gap between East and West Germany. South Korea could also claim the right to merge with North Korea against an aggressive China. For these reasons, in both short and long run, it is very important that the world leaders acknowledge the direct and indirect consequences of the overall direction of South Korea’s foreign policy and take great care when handling the matter.