Last winter, this columnist received word from a senior overseas source that a Chinese economic organization was preparing an official visit to North Korea at Pyongyang's invitation. North Korea was jump-starting efforts to resume inter-Korean trade with China, which had been virtually severed since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. According to the source, the North is seeking Chinese investment and materials to develop its tourism industry, an area State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un has recently emphasized. Having restored its alliance with Russia in 2024, North Korea — if it also secures a pipeline for Chinese funds — will use that money to address economic instability in its regime and further accelerate development of nuclear weapons, missiles and conventional military capabilities. Indeed, the Kim Jong-un regime has ignored President Lee Jae-myung's message of reconciliation and is pressing ahead with expanding its war-making capacity, including test-firing cluster munitions.
Despite these troubling developments in North Korea, South Korea's diplomatic and security leadership is mired in internal discord rather than actively responding. Since the current administration's launch, friction has been unceasing between the alliance faction, which emphasizes a firm South Korea-U.S. alliance, and the self-reliance faction, which stresses building up the country's own capabilities. National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, who also serves as standing chairman of the National Security Council (NSC), and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun — both in the alliance camp — have run parallel tracks on major issues with self-reliance figures Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-seok.
It has largely been Minister Chung who has sparked the disputes. In September last year, responding to North Korea's declaration defining the two Koreas as hostile separate states, he assessed that "(the two Koreas) are in reality two separate states" and put forward a "peaceful two-state theory." NSC Adviser Wi drew a line through a press conference, stating, "The government does not support or acknowledge the 'two-state theory.'" Nevertheless, Chung claimed in the National Assembly in October that the peaceful two-state theory would be confirmed as the government's position, further widening the rift. In December, he declared that "Korean Peninsula policy and inter-Korean relations are in the sovereign domain, and the Ministry of Unification is the entity consulting with allies," drawing controversy over bypassing the foreign ministry.
The alliance faction has refrained as much as possible from direct public responses. Yet within the government, they have reportedly engaged in fierce policy competition with the self-reliance camp. In particular, the government's decision in March to join as a co-sponsor of the U.N. Human Rights Council's resolution on North Korean human rights appears to be the result of the alliance faction's persuasion. Earlier, Chung had signaled a negative stance on the North Korean human rights resolution, saying, "The North views it as a representative hostile policy."
Chung has also recently been at the center of controversy. There are reports that the U.S. is taking issue with his remarks at the National Assembly last month — when he said there is a uranium enrichment facility in Kusong, North Pyongan Province — as a leak of military intelligence. Early this month, the U.S. reportedly restricted some of the North Korea-related intelligence it had been providing to South Korea. Chung expressed regret regarding the Kusong enrichment facility, saying he had "merely used material that had already been reported and disclosed dozens of times to explain policy." However, Victor Cha, Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) — which Chung cited as his source — publicly rebutted him, saying, "We have never once produced a report on a Kusong nuclear facility."
Amid this, President Lee Jae-myung said on the 20th, "We need to look closely into why such an absurd thing is happening." The Presidential Office staff and relevant authorities must take a careful approach in investigating the circumstances and veracity of this matter so as not to damage national interests — particularly diplomatic and security capabilities, intelligence security and the South Korea-U.S. alliance. In 2006, the NSC and Foreign Ministry at the time were attacked by some hardline self-reliance figures and ruling party members on charges of having falsely reported to President Roh Moo-hyun on the content of South Korea-U.S. consultations regarding the strategic flexibility of U.S. Forces Korea, but the Presidential Office's Civil Affairs Secretariat and others calmly investigated and found it had been a misunderstanding. That precedent is worth referencing this time as well. In addition, the parties involved, including Minister Chung and Adviser Wi, should exercise greater caution in their words and actions to avoid triggering additional misunderstandings or conflicts, and both the ruling and opposition parties should refrain from turning the issue into political strife.
President Lee likely appointed Chung and Wi to key posts initially to maximize national interest through a balance between self-reliance and alliance lines. Indeed, President Lee has previously assessed the policy differences between the foreign and unification ministries by saying, "That also has the effect of widening space when choosing foreign policy." However, even as the government debates fiercely internally, it is important that the results be presented externally as a refined and unified position. Otherwise, inviting diplomatic and security discord will only make North Korea smile.
